Menu

More apps built by Reedsy

Assemble a team of professionals

The writing app for authors

Writing courses, events and memberships

Get your book reviewed

Weekly writing prompts and contests

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Weekly Prompts Contest
Reedsy Literary Prize
Magazine
FAQ

Best Short Story Writing Prompts

Join our ongoing contests and win up to $1,500. Flex those creative muscles with these writing prompts.

Showing 255 prompts reset

This week's contest:
Win $250

Gone in a Flash

237 contest entries /
121 stories

--

days

--

hours

--

mins

--

secs

View contest
Closes at 23:59 - Mar 13 EST

Write a story set during a heatwave.

– 66 stories

Begin your story with someone saying, “Are you there, God? It’s me...”

– 67 stories

Write a story where two characters talk around an important subject without ever mentioning it directly.

– 56 stories

Start your story with a non-visual sense. Use a certain scent, texture, sound, or taste to ground the beginning before continuing the narrative.

– 64 stories

Write a story that includes the line “Are you real?” or “Who are you?”

– 106 stories

One character is an artificial intelligence. The other is a human being. Your reader must struggle to tell which is which.

– 61 stories

Using only dialogue, depict a conversation between a non-human entity and a human being about what it means to tell a story, or to be alive.

– 63 stories

Write a story where the only character with a name is an artificial being.

– 45 stories

Center your story around someone who uses technology (AI, hardware, etc.) to write their next work and slowly descends into madness.

– 45 stories

Write a story that includes the words “they would be back…”

– 36 stories

A character finds out they have a special power or ability. What happens next?

– 53 stories

Write a story with someone saying “I regret…” or “I remember…”

– 106 stories

Center your story around a character who’s trying to make amends.

– 47 stories

Write a story about an unlikely criminal or accidental lawbreaker.

– 88 stories

Write about someone who self-publishes a story that was never meant to be read.

– 44 stories

An indie bookshop owner realizes that a customer has stolen a book connected to an unsolved local mystery. What happens next?

– 34 stories

Write a story with a person’s name in the title.

– 62 stories

Start or end your story with a character making food or a drink for themself or someone else.

– 71 stories

Write a story inspired by the phrase "It was all just a dream."

– 54 stories

Write a story about someone reminiscing on something that happened many summers ago.

– 76 stories

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

How to Write a Novel

We made a writing app for you

Yes, you! Write. Format. Export for ebook and print. All for free.