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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
Someone who has lived a thousand years takes up a job teaching high school history.
Write a story about a series of unfortunate events that takes place over the span of a field trip.
Your parents named you Holly after your grandmother, and you just accepted an invite for a group called The Jolly Hollies thinking that it was a club for people with your name. Turns out that it's actually an annual caroling group, and you can't sing.
You were sitting on a park bench, enjoying the sun, when a stranger sat next to you and started typing on an old fashioned typewriter.
You are part of a huge team of accountants that manages the karma of people on earth.
Write a children's book that's set entirely in space.
Write a story about a young couple getting into their first argument over what costume their pet should wear on Halloween.
What is the memory that you remember the most? Why?
You're kneeling in the dirt, working on your garden when your attention is drawn up by a person saying, "Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but..."
"Pick a card, any card. But take care — which card you pull out will determine your fate."
You're a food critic eating the best meal of your life. You're at McDonalds.
There is a fountain that truly does grant wishes to those who throw coins in it.
The voice in your head is your only friend. The AI implant is your only ally. And she's just started to become sentient...
Write a dual perspective story, with each alternating perspective based on one of these two words: "bitter" and "sweet."
Write a love poem inspired by a recently received text message.
She was dying. She was your mother. And you remember the day your engineers first turned her on...
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