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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
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 a story about a young couple getting into their first argument over what costume their pet should wear on Halloween.
Overheard at the track-and-field: "I! NEVER! WANT! TO! SEE! THAT! DOG! POKING! HIS! HEAD! IN! HERE! AGAIN!"
You're cleaning the attic when you find something terribly old, terribly fragile, and terribly powerful...
You are in charge of organizing a lunch for four famous historical figures. Who do you invite? Why?
You wake up one day and find that you can suddenly talk to animals.
Write a story about a series of unfortunate events that takes place over the span of a field trip.
A logical person starts acting irrationally.
Write a story about a character who moves from a small town to a big city for the first time.
Write a story about coming out. The ending is a happy one.
You are the Grinch who hates Halloween, and your mission this year is to replace every single Ferroro Rocher with brussel sprouts.
Write a story that inverts a popular YA trope. You get to pick the trope.
A forgotten object is found in an attic during spring cleaning.
Time travel is widely available. However, you can't interact with the past, you can only observe it. On a trip to the past one day, you bump into someone.
An elderly married couple toast each other over a pint on St. Patrick's Day.
You're in an airport, watching people say goodbye before heading through security.
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