Use this image to inspire a story, poem or personal essay.

I’ve been working on cuts (editorial cuts from a book, I mean) this morning and I thought that this might be a fun writing exercise for you to try.

Take a block of text – from the newspaper, a book you don’t love, a blog, and see if you can make cuts and still have the same meaning and intention show through. Be ruthless, then add back in any words you actually need. You may find you can remove entire sentences.

Making cuts is part of the job for a writer. I find it more fun than you might think. I know writers are supposed to love their darlings, but there is something deeply satisfying about removing the mess, the extra, the ‘fat’, and finding the story within.

Let me know how it goes!

Use these three words in a short piece of writing, whether fictional or true:

LAKE

CALL

BENEATH