Short story ideas to get you writing

Don’t forget that for every idea here, you could try writing it in different genres; ie crime, romance, literary, contemporary, horror, mystery, fantasy , family drama, psychological thriller, action adventure, stories for children, eco-fiction and more. That means there will be more than one permutation for each premise..

Also remember that while there are a limited amount of basic plots, each writer has a unique imagination so that even if they start from the same idea, the story they write will be original. No two writers will treat an idea in the same way.

Read on to find ideas connected to seven basic plotlines. You can find out more about them in Christopher Brooker’s book The Seven Basic Plots, and in this article from Jericho Writers. We’ve provided you with ideas for stories based on each one, so you can start exercising your writing muscles!

Quick links:

• Overcoming the monster
• Voyage and return
• Rags to riches
• The Quest
• Comedy
• Tragedy
• Rebirth

Overcoming the monster

Stories with this plot will feature a protagonist who has to do battle with some kind of monster, or force for evil. The ‘monster’ they have to overcome might be literal, or it might be metaphorical.

1. Your character is convinced there is something terrifying under the bed.
2. Your character accidentally takes something belonging to someone who then threatens them.
3. Someone exerts a bad influence over your character and forces them to commit a crime.
4. Your character finds a box in a charity shop and when it opens it releases a malign entity into your protagonist’s life.
5. Something or someone malevolent has taken up residence in an empty house in your character’s neighbourhood.
6. Several people in your protagonist’s college, workplace or wider social circle have gone missing.
7. There’s a rumour in town that old people are being taken away.
8. Your character witnesses a murder in the middle of the night, and is seen by the murderer.
9. The cleaner at work has a secret life as a serial killer.
10. There’s a really odd feeling in one particular room in the house.

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Voyage and return

This plot will see a character undertake a journey that typically leads them into increasing levels of danger. They will be transformed by the journey before they are able to come home.

1. Your character leaves for work, suffers memory loss and can’t remember where they live or how to get back.
2. A small boat with your character as a passenger is blown off course in a storm and ends up drifting without any way of knowing the location.
3. Your character leaves home but has all their belongings stolen on their way to their destination.
4. Your character is the only person left alive in their town or city. They set out to find what’s left of their family.
5. Your character is thrown out of their home and told they can never come back.
6. The car breaks down in the middle of nowhere.
7. A group of people set off on an excursion but their vehicle breaks down in the middle of nowhere.
8. Your character finds themselves in a world they don’t recognise, and they have to get back to their old one.
9. Your character sets out with important news that can only be delivered in person.
10. Everyone in an invaded city has to leave their home. A family tries to make its way to another country as refugees.

Rags to riches

This kind of story is about empowerment and the fulfilment of desire: a character progressing from a starting point where there is something they need or want, and growing into who they really are in order to achieve their destiny.

1. No-one believes your character is ever going to escape their minimum-wage job.
2. Your character dreams of being a vet but didn’t get the grades they need for university.
3. Your character is too shy to talk to the person they’ve fallen in love with.
4. After a hard life, your character gets to live in their dream home.
5. Someone who has lost everyone they love and everything they own is granted three wishes.
6. Your character is in a relationship with someone who doesn’t make them happy. What changes this?
7. Your character can’t afford all the items on their shopping list
8. Your character gets the golden ticket and wins the lottery.
9. Your character has an amazing voice but their family doesn’t support their dreams of being a singer.
10. After being homeless, your character gets their life back on track.

The Quest

In a quest story, the lead character sets out to find someone, or something, of great importance.

1. After leaving home in disgrace, your character is determined to prove everyone wrong.
2. When a teenager goes missing, their father or mother is determined to get them back.
3. The only way cavers trapped in an underground chamber can get to safety is if the smallest and youngest member of the party can wriggle through a small aperture and go and find help.
4. Your character thinks their life would be improved if only they could find the perfect coat or bag.
5. All your character wants is for someone to recognise them for who they really are.
6. Your character is plucking up the courage to lead their own life on their own terms.
7. Your character sets out to retrieve a precious object from their childhood from someone who shouldn’t have it.
8. Your character is given a clue to the whereabouts of their only living relative.
9. It’s time to make for the school bake sale, but at least one of the necessary ingredients can’t be found.
10. After years in a wilderness of some kind, someone needs to find their way back home.

Comedy

Muddles, pratfalls, off-the wall characters and strange situations are all welcome in this genre of story.

1. Your character mistakes a new acquaintance for someone famous.
2. Three people arrange to meet at a certain place but they all get the destination wrong.
3. Someone is convinced there’s a sheep in the back of their car.
4. Your character wakes up very hungover and has to attend an important meeting.
5. The policeman goes to a wrong address and tries to arrest a little old lady for drug dealing.
6. A keen gardener keeps finding unwanted gnomes in her shrubbery.
7. Someone decides the ideal wedding present is a shovel.
8. Two rival boyfriends up the stakes to see who can most impress the object of their affections.
9. An odd couple have a strange routine for making tea that baffles a visitor.
10. Someone wakes up to find all their clothes are a size too small.

Further reading: Here are some top tips on writing comedy from comedian and author Abigail Mann

Tragedy

This genre is where you'll find the inevitably dark stories where bad things happen, either because of a flaw in someone’s character or because they make a fatal mistake. Your lead character may likeable or unlikeable, but they must always in some way precipitate their own downfall.

1. Your character sees the chance to make a lot of money betting on a match/race, and persuades their friend to take a gamble too. The character’s team/horse loses.
2. Someone is just beginning to turn their life around when an old friend from the past invites them for a drink.
3. After a lot of hard work, your character is about to get a massive promotion, but their boss witnesses them doing something shady, and instead of being promoted, they get fired.
4. Everything is going right for your character until they begin to suspect their partner is hiding something from them.
5. A character bumps into someone who still bears them a grudge about something bad they did when they were at school together.
6. A new relationship is working out really well until your character embarks on a mission of self-sabotage.
7. Your character can’t help telling lies to cover up for things they ought to have done, but haven’t got round to.
8. Your character has the choice between going home for a quiet one or giving in to temptation of some kind.
9. Your character has been trying hard not to drink/gamble/use drugs but when they get a piece of bad news, their resolve weakens.
10. Your character decides that it’s OK to drive when they’ve had a few drinks because it’s a quiet road and a familiar route.

Rebirth

This genre of plot involves redemption stories: someone whose story arc is hopeful or redemptive. You may put your characters through tough times and situations, but the resolution will involve a happy. hopeful ending.

1. Your character is grumpy and hateful to everyone until they meet someone who makes them want to help.
2. Your character’s struggle with addiction nearly breaks them but a significant event changes their life.
3. Someone is alone and at their lowest ebb. They can’t see any meaning in life, but then they find a friend.
4. A shock event makes someone see the error of their ways.
5. Although your character wishes their life had turned out differently, something makes them realise that they made a positive difference to a person they couldn’t save.
6. After a terrible start in life, your character finds a source of strength and turns their life around.
7. A person who did a lot of bad things gets a chance to make up for something that they particularly regret.
8. Someone who has suffered a great loss finds a way to make sense of what has happened.
9. Someone gets a second chance to do something they wish they’d done a long time ago.
10. Someone trapped in a terrible situation finds an opportunity to make their escape.

Have you picked an idea to start your story! Get writing - you never know where it will take you. Take the idea and run with it. See where your imagination takes you from the basic premise, and let your story unfold.

You can write a story in seven days! Follow this advice and by the end of a week you'll have written a new short story.

The story that you start from one of these premises might be the one that gets you a high grade in an assignment. It might be one that you polish and send out on submission. It might make its way into print. It could win a competition.

There's even the possibility that it might attract the attention of an agent or publisher. This story might be the best thing you've ever written. It could even be the story that changes everything.

But none of these things can happen unless YOU write the story.

Chose an idea that speaks to you, or pick one at random, and then bring your unique creativity into the mix - and start writing!

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