How to Come Up with More Short Story Ideas

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Coming up with short story ideas doesn’t have to be difficult. It might seem like an idea comes once in a while through a sudden burst of inspiration, but that doesn’t have to be the case. You can come up with more short story ideas easily. How do you do that? Check out six tips for coming up with more ideas below!

Think about Your Other Interests

First of all, you likely have other interests besides writing. And those interests come with a story. Whether it’s something like movies or video games that already tell a story or projects that create tons of fun experiences, you can build a story from them. Don’t wait for inspiration. Instead, look back on what you enjoy and see what you think up.

Try Some Prompts

It doesn’t hurt to find some sites that offer lists of writing prompts! Prompts are free to use however you want, and they’re great for finding the germ of an idea to get you started. These are also great for writers looking to develop their skills by using these prompts as exercise. After all, you need to flex your writing muscles.

Want to write some sci-fi? Find my post about science fiction writing prompts here.

Look at Your Life Story

What better place to find inspiration? You’re living a story right now! Your life might seem boring, but think about your experiences. Or think about your family’s experiences. Everyone has a story to tell, even if those stories seem too “boring” compared to others. For example, I sometimes fall into the trap of thinking my life is too boring for a short story. However, I recently joined a summer bowling league, and I got to meet a lot of cool people. The more people I got to know, the more I realized that there’s a story there somewhere. While I haven’t yet conceptualized the story (yet), I took one of my routines and looked at it from a different angle. So look back on your supposedly mundane activities and see what you can find.

Read Other Works

No, being inspired by other authors’ works isn’t plagiarism (unless you outright take their exact same ideas). You can read something someone else wrote and use that as a foundation for your own piece. For example, in my book review of Isaac Asimov’s Nightfall, I talked about how Asimov was inspired to write the story after reading Ralph Waldo Emerson. In this case, Asimov examined Emerson’s ideas and decided to look at them from a different angle. That’s what you can do.

Also, think about it this way. Every work is inspired by someone else’s work. Avoid being derivative, but keep an open mind when reading your favorite book. You might like the themes the author presented, or a specific idea. Just be sure to make the story your own.

Find my Nightfall short story review here.

Reignite Some Old Ideas

Writers abandon ideas all the time, but they don’t have to leave them for good. Sometimes, it takes a fresh look at an old idea before you reinvent what you had, and it takes off. Not only do you end up stockpiling your ideas as you go along, but you also train yourself to recognize when an idea is good. So don’t throw away ideas that don’t seem good enough!

Take out a notebook or your phone, and start writing down ideas that come to you. They might not lead anywhere for now, but things might change later on. Keep adding to your list, and over time, you can pick from them to create your next story.

Remember, It Starts with just One Idea

Lastly, you don’t need a fully fleshed-out idea to get started! All it takes to start developing a short story is one thing that you can build on. From there, you can add other ideas until a story starts to take hold. Brandon Sanderson once explained that the beginning of a novel was a combination of lots of smaller idea. The same goes for a short story, but it all starts with the one idea that you pay attention to. So keep those small details in mind and see what happens.

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