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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
While dozing by the fire in your winter cabin, you hear a knock at the door. Blizzard conditions have closed all surrounding roads, and the nearest neighbor is miles away.
You are the only person who has to go into work on a public holiday.
"Do you have a minute?" asks the stranger who was reading beside you on a park bench.
Write a story where your character is at odds with a family tradition.
You work at an airport and notice the same person waiting in "arrivals" every week. Each time, they leave alone. One day you muster the courage to ask who they are waiting for.
Write a story about a terrible, unfixable hair cut.
"When i grow up, I want to..."
Re-tell Jane Eyre as a short story... but set it in the far future.
Rewrite a famous romantic scene from the perspective of a bystander who has no idea what is going on.
Write about a time when you were hurt by someone unexpected.
You're stranded on a treasure island.
Write a story that inverts the trope of the Chosen One.
Write a story about a search for a Santa suit.
A wand-maker goes to the forest ready to work, only to find a group of environmentalists camped out in front of their favorite hemlock tree.
Write a story about Christmas from the perspective of someone who hates Christmas.
Write a story about a family who goes pumpkin picking, only to discover that at some point their prize pumpkins have been mysteriously switched with others from the patch. What happens next?
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