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47 Best Dramatic Short Story Ideas

Showing 47 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.

A bittersweet farewell: bitter for one person, sweet for the other.

As the sun set, the desert wasteland glowed an eerie red.

Someone you believed to be dead "comes back."

You're on a train when someone sits across from you and begins to cry.

By the time this party is finished, three people's lives will be changed forever.

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

You wake up unable to say a word, but can all of a sudden write the most amazing music.

There is a fountain that truly does grant wishes to those who throw coins in it.

You're kneeling in the dirt, working on your garden when your attention is drawn up by a person saying, "Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but..."

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

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

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.

Everyday you are delivered a newspaper at your front door that accurately predicts what will happen in the next 24 hours.

You are an astronaut spending your last few hours on Earth before a journey into space.

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.

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

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