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DIRECTORY
539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
Two colleagues with poor communication skills have to collaborate for the first time on a project.
On your commute to work, you expect to see the sun rise as usual. This time, two suns rise.
Write a story about a character who must confront their past.
You've been asked to watch the class pet over a long weekend. It gets loose on its first night at your house.
Write a story about a world in which Mondays don't exist.
You find a note in your locker that is not intended for you, but the person with the next locker over. What does the note say? What do you do with it?
Write a story about a festive neighborhood battle between one family who loves Halloween and another family who loves Christmas.
A plane that's been missing for years suddenly lands at a major airport.
Your family's run out of coal to heat your home in December. To procure coal for your family, you have to figure out how to get onto Santa's naughty list... quickly.
Write about a difficult decision you had to make, and how you ended up making it.
Write about a law in your country that you would change.
As a joke, you use your cell phone to dial your own number. Someone picks up.
You signed up for what you thought was a sweepstakes to win the latest Apple iPhone model, only to discover to your horror when you get to the fall festival that it's actually a competition to see who can eat the most apples in 30 minutes.
Doppelgangers exist in this world. You just met yours — and they're not friendly.
Santa Claus had one too many pork chops during the pre-Christmas feast, and now he's stuck in the chimney — and there are footsteps approaching!
There's someone standing on the corner of the street you live on. It's the fifth time they've been there this week.
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