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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026

Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.

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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.

Children's Book

You pass by a person sitting with their face to the sun, the most content smile you've ever seen on their face.

Fiction

You are on a solo camping trip in the woods. After a deep night's sleep, you awake to the voice of someone saying, "Rise and shine!"

Funny

Write a Halloween story based on your latest nightmare.

Halloween

Write a story about a character's first day at an after-school job in a retail store.

Teens

You just invented the first time machine in Physics — but you accidentally sent yourself to the future instead of the past during the initial test drive. Now you must race against time to travel back to the present after learning of a secret that might change everything as the world knows it.

High School

Pick a genre and then write about a long walk home after school.

Fiction

Pick a color and write a story based on the feelings that that color evokes for you.

Middle School

Describe yourself to a stranger.

Narrative

You wake up trapped in a strange castle with no memory of how you got there and there's something lurking in the shadows as you explore the halls.

Dark

You woke up and all seemed normal. Little did you know that before you'd even had a chance to get out of bed, you would become the subject of a prank.

Funny

You just discovered England's biggest secret: every time they sing "God Save the Queen" it extends the queens life.

Funny

Write a story about a character who's just moved into town.

Middle School

539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026

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.

You pass by a person sitting with their face to the sun, the most content smile you've ever seen on their face.

You are on a solo camping trip in the woods. After a deep night's sleep, you awake to the voice of someone saying, "Rise and shine!"

Write a Halloween story based on your latest nightmare.

Write a story about a character's first day at an after-school job in a retail store.

A character becomes addicted to the slots in Las Vegas.

The monster from your nightmare is standing next to you when you wake up.

Write a story about living a lie. You get to choose the lie.

You just invented the first time machine in Physics — but you accidentally sent yourself to the future instead of the past during the initial test drive. Now you must race against time to travel back to the present after learning of a secret that might change everything as the world knows it.

Pick a genre and then write about a long walk home after school.

Pick a color and write a story based on the feelings that that color evokes for you.

Describe yourself to a stranger.

You wake up trapped in a strange castle with no memory of how you got there and there's something lurking in the shadows as you explore the halls.

You woke up and all seemed normal. Little did you know that before you'd even had a chance to get out of bed, you would become the subject of a prank.

You just discovered England's biggest secret: every time they sing "God Save the Queen" it extends the queens life.

Write a story about a character who's just moved into town.

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