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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
Write a short story in the form of a text message exchange between two best friends during history class.
You're a busker in Central Park on a spring day.
Write about the origin of April Fools' Day.
While looking through old photos you discover something that unequivocally settles an argument that ended a childhood friendship decades ago.
After searching for your lost cat for months, it saunters into your house one day. It looks rather plump.
As a joke, you use your cell phone to dial your own number. Someone picks up.
The Earth does not rotate. One side always faces the sun and is in continual daylight. The other side is in eternal night. Cultures on both sides develop around this.
Write about a time that you encountered an obstacle, and how you overcame it.
Everyday you are delivered a newspaper at your front door that accurately predicts what will happen in the next 24 hours.
Write a story based on an experience from your childhood... but have that experience happen to a person or group of people who are nothing like you or your family.
Describe your definition of a good life.
You head into the forest with your trusty lantern that's been enchanted to burn forever. You're looking for something.
You thought you were the last person left on Earth. Today you found out that might not be true.
A group of friends go pumpkin picking at a local farm and have a competition to see who can find the biggest pumpkin. Plot twist: the farm has a previous reputation for being haunted.
Two elderly people in a retirement home are a secret pair of detectives that have solved some of the biggest crimes and mysteries through anonymous tips.
The voice in your head is your only friend. The AI implant is your only ally. And she's just started to become sentient...
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