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47 Best Dramatic Short Story Ideas

Showing 47 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.

You're on a boat that should have reached undiscovered land days ago. Your compass tells you you're on the right path but there is no land in sight.

You hear music emanating from aisle 3 of your local grocery store. No one else hears it.

The world's most important chess game is about to start.

You're in an airport, watching people say goodbye before heading through security.

"See you later!" you called, not realizing it wasn't true.

Write about the way the sunset looks from the perspective of two characters. One is sad, the other is happy.

Two friends are meeting at a high school reunion. They have not seen each other in ten years.

You thought you were the last person left on Earth. Today you found out that might not be true.

You enter a room where someone is having a phone call. They don't see you and you overhear a big secret that you clearly weren't meant to.

You wake up from a coma that no one expected you to recover from.

"I love you," you said. Before you could hear a response, your phone died.

It's the beginning of a new term at your university. As usual, you scramble to your first class and get there just in time. No one is there but you and the professor.

A long-standing feud erupts during a funeral or wedding.

"The grass is always greener on the other side." You were prepared to find out.

"Today is the last day," you decide, staring up at the 67-story building that has owned your life for the last 10 years.

While dozing by the fire in your winter cabin, you hear a knock at the door. Blizzard conditions have closed all surrounding roads, and the nearest neighbor is miles away.

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