Saunders includes some suggested writing exercises as appendixes to this book. For the first of these exercises, Saunders asks writers to give themselves just five minutes to edit a text that provides, and then to ask themselves: “1) What did I cut? 2) Why did I cut it? 3) Is the resulting piece better or worse?” (493).

From this exercise, writers can learn about their editorial instincts. Saunders believes that a writer’s “voice” (496) is not developed simply by writing, but by revising and cutting . Moreover, editing adds focus and energy to a story; once the “mediocre bits” (497) are chopped from phrases, new directions for the story suggest themselves.

Saunders also suggests a follow-up exercise: cutting one of the writer’s own stories in half, once it is close to finished. He observes that this exercise can give a writer a “muscle memory” for editing (498).

This writing exercise gives writers 45 minutes to write a 200-word story using only 50 words. They are to keep track of these words with a numbered list at the bottom of their text.

These kinds of constraints can push writers to be more inventive and playful. Because they have a minimum of descriptive vocabulary, they are forced to get to the action of the story more quickly.