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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
Write a story about a young girl with a passion for science who invents a time machine and travels to the future, where she must save the world from an imminent catastrophe that only she knows about.
You enter a room where someone is having a phone call. They don't see you and you overhear a big secret that you clearly weren't meant to.
The money is good. But the lies have built up. This empire of yours has been built on a secret, a stolen technology, and the guilt has reached its peak. You have to come out with the truth
The pumpkin flickered while you carved it… but there was no candle in it.
Ten years later, you see the person who bullied you in middle school in the middle of 7-11.
From a dog's perspective, humans seem to be either immortal or at least live extremely long lives. Write from the perspective of a dog contemplating this.
A cell phone is found inside a sealed Egyptian tomb.
Adapt your favorite fairy tale to take place in your home town.
You are part of a huge team of accountants that manages the karma of people on earth.
Write a story about the friendship between two different species of animals.
You check into a seedy hotel and discover halfway through the night that it is made up entirely of thirteenth floors missing from other hotels.
"Do you have a minute?" asks the stranger who was reading beside you on a park bench.
A character starts remembering things that never happened.
For years, four characters have met for a monthly card game. Write a story in which one character realizes that another is cheating.
Write a story about a good witch and a bad witch who try to outdo each other on Halloween.
A student has to fight against societal expectations in order to fulfill a lifelong dream.
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