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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
Describe your weekend using only dialogue to write the story.
It's Groundhog Day... and the day that keeps looping for you is the day of the most disastrous prom in the history of proms.
Write about a time that you encountered an obstacle, and how you overcame it.
Write a story that ends by coming full circle.
A romance told through a series of texts.
A cell phone is found inside a sealed Egyptian tomb.
You catch a falling star and put it in your pocket.
During a group project, the class clown is stalling on doing their share of the work.
Write a story based on an experience from your childhood... but set it in a different time period. (Yes, the future counts!)
Write a story about a character who doesn't know how to share.
Write about a place the sky meets the sea.
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.
You're spending the night in an old Victorian home-turned-hotel. You're just about to go into your room, when you hear a harp playing from inside it.
You are a curmudgeonly old man whose name is Writer S. Block. You just spotted your next victim.
You're kneeling in the dirt, working on your garden when your attention is drawn up by a person saying, "Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but..."
"The grass is always greener on the other side." You were prepared to find out.
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