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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
You work the night shift at a 24 hour laundromat. The job seems normal until someone crawls out of one of the washers and tells you that after dark, every machine leads to a different world.
It is discovered that Earth actually IS flat.
You're on a boat that should have reached undiscovered land days ago. Your compass tells you you're on the right path but there is no land in sight.
"BOO!" you yell, grabbing the shoulders of a person you think is your friend from behind. They turn around and it's a total stranger.
Write a story about a character who moves from a small town to a big city for the first time.
Write a story about a character whose reflection no longer appears in the mirror. (It's up to you whether or not they're also a vampire.)
Your Tesla has stopped in the wilderness. The last thing you remember before the panic set in was someone hacking into the car's computer, steering you far away from the safety of the city. In the darkness, a light moves towards you
A pair of twins swap places for a day. What do they find out about each other?
A child walks into the forest and learns about all of the animals that live in there.
Write a story based on an experience from your childhood... but set it in a different time period. (Yes, the future counts!)
An elderly person finally takes the last picture on a film camera they've had for decades. Today they're going to print it.
Write a story that draws from a moment in your life where you wish you'd made a different choice. Have your protagonist make that choice, and then see what happens.
After the brief pause that follows your mother's angry question of "Who did this?", all of you look at the cat.
Ten years later, you see the person who bullied you in middle school in the middle of 7-11.
The voice in your head is your only friend. The AI implant is your only ally. And she's just started to become sentient...
Many action movies involve the hero jumping into a vehicle and demanding the driver to "follow that car!" Write from the perspective of the driver.
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