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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
Spin a scary story that could be told around a bonfire at night.
Describe a character and their life using only the apps on their phone.
You stumble across an abandoned house in the woods.
You come across a cheaply printed book of magic tricks. You try one out and discover the book is truly magic, and teaches you how to break fundamental laws of physics.
Some fishy things have been going on at school. Write about a group of friends who establish their own detective agency to get down to the bottom of it, once and for all.
A person dictates who he or she will date based on quantitative measures, such as horoscopes, how they perform on a test, etc.
"Today is the last day," you decide, staring up at the 67-story building that has owned your life for the last 10 years.
Each year, the Springers host the town's most epic Halloween costume party. You're determined to win the grand prize this year, except that this year the theme is "Willy Wonka."
Write about a time that you found out something surprising about yourself.
You were put in charge of getting your great-grandmother a gift this year by your family — but she's old enough that she's already seen, heard, and experienced everything under the sun. What do you get her?
You left cookies on the table on the day before Christmas. When you wake up the next day, the cookies are gone, and in their place is a note. What does it say?
While looking through old photos you discover something that unequivocally settles an argument that ended a childhood friendship decades ago.
Write a story about a young couple getting into their first argument over what costume their pet should wear on Halloween.
You have wondered how to bring down Jane Lotsacash for years. Now, the key to her demise rests on your desk...
A character doesn't know how to break up with their partner, and keeps putting it off until the very moment that the partner bends down on one knee and proposes.
One character wants a snake, but their roommate has a phobia. They adopt one anyway.
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