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DIRECTORY
539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
A friendly pranking rivalry between two colleagues in an office starts to get serious.
"Breaking news: a mirror Earth has just been confirmed..." was not what you expected to hear on the news when you turned on your radio that morning.
A wand-maker goes to the forest ready to work, only to find a group of environmentalists camped out in front of their favorite hemlock tree.
Write a love poem inspired by a recently received text message.
Your friend is visiting your home for the first time. You go to the kitchen to grab coffee and when you return, your friend tells you they just met your sister. You're an only child and you live alone.
You've just moved into a new house. You wake up one night to the sound of Siri responding to a query. You turned off your phone before you went to sleep.
A former party animal lives in a retirement home. They've decided it's time for one last bash.
Write a story where your character is acting differently on the outside than they feel on the inside.
Write a story about a festive neighborhood battle between one family who loves Halloween and another family who loves Christmas.
You volunteer to be the first human to test time travel, only going an hour forward in time. But when you leave the travel pod, all other humans are gone.
You're beginning to believe the person writing the daily crossword puzzle in your newspaper is trying to send you an encoded message.
Write a story where your character gets close to obtaining their greatest desire.
A tree falls in the woods. You're around to hear it.
As a joke, you use your cell phone to dial your own number. Someone picks up.
A group of high school students go on an educational field trip to a graveyard to learn about the history of the area. But when a storm starts up and they get trapped, they have to figure out how to survive the night.
Write a story about a search for a Santa suit.
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