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DIRECTORY
539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
Pick a color and write a story based on the feelings that that color evokes for you.
A character must overcome their fear of running to join the soccer team, where their longtime crush is.
While spring cleaning, you come across something you had forgotten all about.
Turn one of your grandparent's old stories into fiction.
You canÍt believe what you just read on the scroll. You have to tell someone.
You open a fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant. Inside is a handwritten note.
Write a story about two best friends at their first school dance.
A pair of twins swap places for a day. What do they find out about each other?
Write a story with an open ending.
On your commute to work, you expect to see the sun rise as usual. This time, two suns rise.
Write about a white Christmas in California.
You went to sleep in a bed, but you woke up on the cold dark floor the forest.
Two super competitive colleagues meet at the office's monthly Bingo night.
Write a story from the perspective of your middle school self.
During a group project, the class clown is stalling on doing their share of the work.
You wake up trapped in a strange castle with no memory of how you got there and there's something lurking in the shadows as you explore the halls.
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