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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
All of your birthday presents this year look normal, except for one sitting in the corner that has a strange yellow glow emitting from it...
You are an astronaut spending your last few hours on Earth before a journey into space.
Write a story about a good witch and a bad witch who try to outdo each other on Halloween.
Your mom has just sat you down and told you that you'll have a baby sister.
You're a busker in Central Park on a spring day.
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.
It was the most epic senior prank your high school had ever seen.
You briefly go out in the snow and come back inside. When you go out again, your footprints from earlier lead in a different direction.
A legendary dragon is on its way to capture a princess. Plot twist: the princess kidnaps it, and temporarily locks it away in her tower to teach it a lesson.
A character must overcome their fear of running to join the soccer team, where their longtime crush is.
Due to collision of powerful spells, two wizards are sealed into a tree during a fearsome battle. That tree is now your coffee table.
Write a story about a high-stakes decoration competition between neighbors vyying for the title of Most Festive Home in their city (and the local newspaper feature that comes with it).
Rewrite a famous romantic scene from the perspective of a bystander who has no idea what is going on.
Adapt your favorite fairy tale to take place in your home town.
The biggest tsunami in a decade is here. You're told to leave the city immediately, and you're on your way out when you see a dog struggling to stay afloat in the distance.
Write a story about something that seems ordinary to your protagonist but would be perceived as extraordinary by someone else.
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