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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
A forgotten object is found in an attic during spring cleaning.
A plane takes off with 81 passengers. It lands with 82.
Everyday, you sit at your window to watch a neighbor play a musical instrument. You can't hear the music, but you're transfixed by the musician's expression.
The monster from your nightmare is standing next to you when you wake up.
You are a server at a restaurant, having the busiest shift of your life.
It's Christmas, and you somehow need to manuever your parents into buying you the gift that you want.
You are a space kitty, traveling from planet to planet. You write a letter home and this is what it says.
It was the most epic senior prank your high school had ever seen.
Describe a character and their life using only the apps on their phone.
You are in a bar when an elderly woman takes the stool next to you and says to the bartender, "Hey, Francine, make it a double. It happened again." You can't resist and ask her, "What happened again?"
You are an expert spy for the British government, trained to perfection. Your only weakness is that your background music alerts enemies to your presence.
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're haunted by a ghost. That's not the problem. The problem is that this ghost is really, really, really chatty.
Everyday you are delivered a newspaper at your front door that accurately predicts what will happen in the next 24 hours.
Write a story based on an experience from your childhood... but set it in a different time period. (Yes, the future counts!)
You've just made the discovery of secret playground deep in the woods... and only you know of its existence.
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