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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
Write about a white Christmas in California.
You're sitting in a coffee shop watching someone type on their computer. They type the words, "It begins raining outside", and it instantly starts raining.
You're the principal for the day! Write a story about what you would do with these newfound responsibilities.
You head into the forest with your trusty lantern that's been enchanted to burn forever. You're looking for something.
Overheard at the track-and-field: "I! NEVER! WANT! TO! SEE! THAT! DOG! POKING! HIS! HEAD! IN! HERE! AGAIN!"
Your friend is visiting your home for the first time. You go to the kitchen to grab coffee and when you return, your friend tells you they just met your sister. You're an only child and you live alone.
You check into a seedy hotel and discover halfway through the night that it is made up entirely of thirteenth floors missing from other hotels.
You just discovered that you can teleport into one Hallmark Christmas rom-com of your choosing. Which movie do you choose, and what happens differently in the movie because of your arrival?
A character becomes addicted to the slots in Las Vegas.
A person wakes up in bed, drenched in salty ocean water.
"By the time I wake up in the morning, I want them dead."
You are in charge of organizing a lunch for four famous historical figures. Who do you invite? Why?
Write a story about a world in which Mondays don't exist.
Set your story at a graveyard overnight.
Write a story about a character who sees the ocean for the first time.
Write a story based on an experience from your childhood... but have that experience happen to a person or group of people who are nothing like you or your family.
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