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Are you ready to write but don’t know what to write about? Prepare to kick your writing into gear by browsing through our list of 200+ short story ideas. New prompts are added each week, and you can search by genre. But don’t let our categories stop you from putting your own spin on a writing prompt: if you find a short story idea tagged as sci-fi, but you think it would make a great romance plot, run with it! For tips on how to come up with your own story ideas, scroll to the bottom of the page.

539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026

Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.

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Write a love story using dramatic irony.

Love

Write a story that takes place entirely in the dark.

Dark

It's Wednesday evening and you're off to the weekly meeting of your writer's block support group.

Funny

Write about a time that you broke the rules.

Narrative

Where do you see the future of technology heading? Write an essay explaining why.

Narrative

It's the year 5000 and humanity's first expansions into space, colonization of the solar system, etc., have faded into myths, much like the journeys of Odysseus. Write about these fabled legends.

Science Fiction

Because of a freak science experiment, you just had a body swap — with the principal of your high school! What do you do with your newfound role?

High School

Write about the dream that you've held onto for the longest.

Narrative

Write about a family with secrets that get stuck in a corn maze overnight. One by one, all of the secrets come out in the course of the night.

Halloween

You are a curmudgeonly old man whose name is Writer S. Block. You just spotted your next victim.

Funny

You hear music emanating from aisle 3 of your local grocery store. No one else hears it.

Dramatic

Your new cell phone number used to be the number of a very popular personal therapist.

Funny

Write a story about a family adopting a black cat, just in time for Halloween.

Halloween

539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026

Write a love story using dramatic irony.

Write a story that takes place entirely in the dark.

It's Wednesday evening and you're off to the weekly meeting of your writer's block support group.

Write about a time that you broke the rules.

Where do you see the future of technology heading? Write an essay explaining why.

It's the year 5000 and humanity's first expansions into space, colonization of the solar system, etc., have faded into myths, much like the journeys of Odysseus. Write about these fabled legends.

Because of a freak science experiment, you just had a body swap — with the principal of your high school! What do you do with your newfound role?

Write about the dream that you've held onto for the longest.

Write about a family with secrets that get stuck in a corn maze overnight. One by one, all of the secrets come out in the course of the night.

Sweet Sixteenth? More like Salty Sixteenth!

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

You stumble across an abandoned house in the woods.

You are a curmudgeonly old man whose name is Writer S. Block. You just spotted your next victim.

You hear music emanating from aisle 3 of your local grocery store. No one else hears it.

Your new cell phone number used to be the number of a very popular personal therapist.

Write a story about a family adopting a black cat, just in time for Halloween.

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