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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
Write about a time when you were hurt by someone unexpected.
You're going through family photos when you start to notice the same person candidly in the background of every single location.
You're scrolling through the pictures on your phone. You notice a new one: it's of you sleeping.
Write a story about the friendship between an introvert and an extrovert
You're in an airport, watching people say goodbye before heading through security.
A character must overcome their fear of running to join the soccer team, where their longtime crush is.
Write a story where someone says, "If only I could have met you ten years later, maybe… this all could have turned out differently."
Write a story using the Halloween colors somewhere in the piece: orange, black, purple, and green.
Doctor Seuss has grown weary of writing children's books and finds new work as a reporter covering violent crime for a newspaper. Despite his new line of work, he keeps his classic Seussian style.
You come across an ATM that gives you the exact amount of money you need to survive for the day, how you spend it is your choice. Today you are given $10 million.
You are a professional hoax-buster.
Write about a story where Mondays are deleted from the universe.
You were put in charge of getting your great-grandmother a gift this year by your family — but she's old enough that she's already seen, heard, and experienced everything under the sun. What do you get her?
A person wakes up in bed, drenched in salty ocean water.
You're moments late to everything. You watch busses pull away as you run behind them, you miss the first 5 minutes of every movie, and you have never caught a green light. One day, you arrive on time.
Set your story at a noisy school assembly, where two characters are trying to hold an important and private conversation.
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