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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
Set your story entirely under mistletoe.
You find your grandparent's old chessboard in the attic. Absentmindedly, you move a piece. The next day, an opposing piece has been moved.
You are home alone watching TV. A character dials a number on their phone. Your phone rings.
You discover a secret family member you never knew existed.
A cell phone is found inside a sealed Egyptian tomb.
A team of scientists have successfully teleported an apple. It reappears with a bite taken out of it.
Your mom has just sat you down and told you that you'll have a baby sister.
Write a story that inverts the trope of the Chosen One.
Write a dual perspective story, with each alternating perspective based on one of these two words: "bitter" and "sweet."
Write about a power hungry wizard summoning an eldritch creature from a blood-stained spellbook.
You left cookies on the table on the day before Christmas. When you wake up the next day, the cookies are gone, and in their place is a note. What does it say?
Write about a time that you felt like an outsider.
A character who loves reading finds out that their library has just been forbidden from carrying banned books.
Write a story about a meet-cute between competing Christmas tree shops in town.
Sweet Sixteenth? More like Salty Sixteenth!
Set your story at a sunny day in the park.
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