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47 Best Dramatic Short Story Ideas

Showing 47 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.

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

You discover a secret family member you never knew existed.

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.

You're on an island in the middle of the ocean. One day you find a bottle washed up on the shore with a piece of paper in it.

You were sitting on a park bench, enjoying the sun, when a stranger sat next to you and started typing on an old fashioned typewriter.

A woman drops her wallet on the street, and it falls open. You pick it up and are about to return it to her when you notice a strange picture inside.

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

You open a fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant. Inside is a handwritten note.

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

Someone you believed to be dead "comes back."

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

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

Something unusual is found in a winter coat pocket.

As the floor trembles and the walls shake, you know there is only one way to survive.

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

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

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