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39 Best Fiction Short Story Ideas
Showing 39 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
You're at your computer feeling heavy writer's block. Suddenly words start appearing on the screen.
A story that takes place in the Wild West, but the world is frigid, covered with snow and ice instead of sand.
Write a story that takes place where poets and writers are the biggest celebrities.
You're a busker in Central Park on a spring day.
For a week or so you've noticed a stray animal hanging around your home. One day you let it in.
Pick a genre and then write about a long walk home after school.
It's your first day in a new city where you don't speak the language.
This was the moment you'd been waiting for. Gleefully, you raised your camera to take a picture and then... the battery died.
You wake up the day after an epic party. You're not where you expected to be.
Write a story where your character finds out a rumor is circulating about them.
Write about the origin of the saying "April showers bring May flowers."
You got on the wrong bus and ended up in a remote town where things seemed a little odd.
You're moments late to everything. You watch busses pull away as you run behind them, you miss the first 5 minutes of every movie, and you have never caught a green light. One day, you arrive on time.
A trusting person turns into a skeptic.
You come across an ATM that gives you the exact amount of money you need to survive for the day, how you spend it is your choice. Today you are given $10 million.
You work at an airport and notice the same person waiting in "arrivals" every week. Each time, they leave alone. One day you muster the courage to ask who they are waiting for.
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