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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
Overheard in Chemistry class: "Well, that wasn't supposed to happen."
You're on an island in the middle of the ocean. One day you find a bottle washed up on the shore with a piece of paper in it.
You open a door, but before you can go through, someone sneaks in front of you without saying "thank you." You've had an awful day and this is the last straw.
Write a retelling of a fairy tale — from the perspective of a child.
You're on a train when someone sits across from you and begins to cry.
"What? You're Father who? I don't know no Father Christmas, now get off of my lawn!"
It's your birthday! Write a story about the ideal birthday that you'd spend with your family, your friends, or yourself.
It's your first winter… and it's just started snowing!
She was dying. She was your mother. And you remember the day your engineers first turned her on...
You are a student working on a team project. You and your group are accidentally locked in the school library overnight.
You know how when you see a bear, you should stay calm and make loud noises? For this… creature… you have to do the opposite. You have to run.
By the time this party is finished, three people's lives will be changed forever.
A sleepover goes off the rails when a group of friends accidentally summons a being from another dimension.
Petals fall to the ground as someone picks apart a flower and says, "they love me, they love me not."
"When I regained consciousness, I was invisible. And I don't know how to fix it!"
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.
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