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Are you ready to write but don’t know what to write about? Prepare to kick your writing into gear by browsing through our list of 200+ short story ideas. New prompts are added each week, and you can search by genre. But don’t let our categories stop you from putting your own spin on a writing prompt: if you find a short story idea tagged as sci-fi, but you think it would make a great romance plot, run with it! For tips on how to come up with your own story ideas, scroll to the bottom of the page.

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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026

Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.

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Set your story at the playground!

A plane has just crashed onto a deserted island. It's carrying 12 convicted criminals.

Describe your weekend using only dialogue to write the story.

Write a story about two costume shops who try to outdo each other with bigger and crazier costumes each Halloween.

Write a story about a character who is under intense pressure to succeed at something.

A child walks into the forest and learns about all of the animals that live in there.

Children's Book

Write a story that includes these three words: "clown," "purple," and "apple."

Amazon has invented time travel and introduced pre-emptive shipping. Today, you receive something completely unexpected from your future self.

Science Fiction

What is the memory that you remember the most? Why?

Write a story about pumpkin picking… in the middle of a storm.

Write a story about a family who goes pumpkin picking, only to discover that at some point their prize pumpkins have been mysteriously switched with others from the patch. What happens next?

It is the year 3000. The sun starts to flicker.

Overheard at the track-and-field: "I! NEVER! WANT! TO! SEE! THAT! DOG! POKING! HIS! HEAD! IN! HERE! AGAIN!"

An elderly person finally takes the last picture on a film camera they've had for decades. Today they're going to print it.

You saw something that you weren't supposed to see. Telling the truth could fix a horrible situation for one of the colleagues involved — but it would get you fired.

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.