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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
While spring cleaning, you come across something you had forgotten all about.
All of your birthday presents this year look normal, except for one sitting in the corner that has a strange yellow glow emitting from it...
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.
It's March 31st, the busiest day of the year at the joke shop you own.
You've just moved into a new house. You wake up one night to the sound of Siri responding to a query. You turned off your phone before you went to sleep.
Write about your goals at ages 5, 10, 15, and 20.
Rewrite a famous romantic scene from the perspective of a bystander who has no idea what is going on.
You're cleaning the attic when you find something terribly old, terribly fragile, and terribly powerful...
Write a story about two best friends at their first school dance.
Write a story about a character who moves from a small town to a big city for the first time.
Write a dual perspective story, with each alternating perspective based on one of these two words: "bitter" and "sweet."
Write about a time you failed.
Think about a moment in your life that elicited very strong emotions. Write about a character going through a different experience that leads to the same emotions.
Set your story at the bleachers of the track and field.
You are in a bar when an elderly woman takes the stool next to you and says to the bartender, "Hey, Francine, make it a double. It happened again." You can't resist and ask her, "What happened again?"
Someone just knocked on the door late at night, but you weren't expecting anyone. When you open the door... no one's there.
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