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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
You're a janitor at a large school. People wouldn't believe the things you've heard.
You are a secret agent. Your mission? To steal the cookie jar back from your older sister.
You wake up from a coma that no one expected you to recover from.
Write a story about a group of friends who volunteer at a soup kitchen on the weekends.
A character must confront their fear of commitment if they want to save their failing relationship.
Write about a time that you were lost (metaphorically or literally).
A friendly pranking rivalry between two colleagues in an office starts to get serious.
A young child discovers a passion for baking. Write about the crazy kitchen adventures that they embark upon with their allergic-to-gluten family, one that culminates in a national baking competition.
During a group project, the class clown is stalling on doing their share of the work.
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.
Write a story about time passing from the perspective of a young child who tends to plants every day.
Write a story about a group of five friends who set out at night for trick or treating… and when they return, they're only four.
Emotional baggage must now be checked in at the airport.
You are home alone watching TV. A character dials a number on their phone. Your phone rings.
Shaking, you take a step back from the sight in front of you. You'd never seen so much blood in your life.
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.
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