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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
Write a story about the passage of time based only upon a series of birthday wishes.
Spin a scary story that could be told around a bonfire at night.
You wake up one day and find that you can suddenly talk to animals.
Describe your weekend using only dialogue to write the story.
Write a story that ends by jumping forward several years.
Write a story in which it becomes night forever. The sun has gone.
You're home alone for the first time ever. Write a story about how the day unfolds.
You find a note in your locker that is not intended for you, but the person with the next locker over. What does the note say? What do you do with it?
An elderly married couple toast each other over a pint on St. Patrick's Day.
Write a story that's a retelling of your favorite book, from the perspective of a minor character.
There's someone standing on the corner of the street you live on. It's the fifth time they've been there this week.
A child finds out by accident that Santa Claus… isn't real! Write about the fallout that occurs afterward.
Re-tell Jane Eyre as a short story... but set it in the far future.
Write a story that ends by coming full circle.
Write a story about two costume shops who try to outdo each other with bigger and crazier costumes each Halloween.
You just invented the first time machine in Physics — but you accidentally sent yourself to the future instead of the past during the initial test drive. Now you must race against time to travel back to the present after learning of a secret that might change everything as the world knows it.
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