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DIRECTORY
539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
In a quiet little coffee shop in a quiet little town, famous people from history stop by every so often for a drink.
"Pick a card, any card. But take care — which card you pull out will determine your fate."
A child was stolen, and a straw doll left in their place.
In the closet of your new home is a portal through space and time. You accidentally travel to Mars.
It's your birthday! Write a story about the ideal birthday that you'd spend with your family, your friends, or yourself.
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.
You're a bartender at a neighborhood pub. A regular comes in and says, "Do I have a story for you!"
Write a story about a young couple getting into their first argument over what costume their pet should wear on Halloween.
Write about Christmas from the perspective of the local cat.
Write a story about living a lie. You get to choose the lie.
You are put in charge of a mission to Mars on NASA's most advanced space shuttle yet. Organize your team.
It's the year 5000 and humanity's first expansions into space, colonization of the solar system, etc., have faded into myths, much like the journeys of Odysseus. Write about these fabled legends.
You're cleaning the attic when you find something terribly old, terribly fragile, and terribly powerful...
A forgotten object is found in an attic during spring cleaning.
You meet someone who's different from you. Write a story about how you become friends.
Spin a scary story that could be told around a bonfire at night.
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