Story ideas you can start writing tonight
A good story idea is a character who wants something, a problem in the way, and a reason it has to happen now.
- Below are 20 original ideas across five genres.
- Each one names the want, the problem and the clock.
- Spin for more, then play one out with a character.
Spin a story idea
What makes a story idea worth writing?
Most story ideas that stall are settings, not stories. A haunted subway, a floating arena, a rooftop cafe: each is a place where a story could happen. A story starts when someone in that place wants something and cannot easily have it.
Every idea below is built from the same three parts, and you can use them to test any idea of your own.
- A want. Someone needs something specific: money, an answer, a win, a second chance.
- A problem. Something real stands in the way, ideally another person with a want of their own.
- A clock. A reason it has to happen now: a deadline, a storm, a train that leaves at 1:40 AM.
Fantasy story ideas
Fantasy works best when the magic costs something and the world has rules the characters can break.
- A quest notice appears on the guild board in your own handwriting, and you have never seen it before.
- A town pays a dragon rent, and this year it cannot afford to.
- The youngest guild master on the road has to choose between her best party and her oldest friend.
- A healer can mend any wound but has to keep the scar.
Sci-fi story ideas
Good science fiction asks one question about a changed world and follows the answer all the way down.
- A shipyard builds a frame that pilots itself, and its first act is to refuse a mission.
- A cargo hauler finds a passenger in a sealed crate who says the year is wrong.
- An orbital station votes on whether to answer a signal, and the vote is a tie.
- A test pilot's checklist has one step nobody remembers adding.
Slice of life story ideas
Slice of life needs no villain. The stakes are small and personal, which is exactly why they land.
- A cafe on a roof has to move downstairs, and the regulars refuse to follow.
- Two neighbors share a wall, a cat and a grudge about the cat.
- A woman learns the cello at 40 because of a promise she made at 20.
- A night bus driver has the same three passengers every night for a year, and one night only two get on.
Ghost story ideas
Good ghost stories are quiet. A cold spot, a wrong detail, a door that is open when you closed it. These lean eerie rather than gory.
- A lost property office keeps receiving the same coat, each time a little wetter.
- A ghost haunts a subway station because nobody ever finished its sentence.
- Someone starts getting voicemails from their own number, recorded tomorrow.
- A building's elevator stops at a floor that was bricked over before anyone alive was born.
Rivalry and competition story ideas
A rival makes a strong antagonist: someone who wants the same thing you do, for reasons as good as yours.
- Two duelists who hate each other are the only ones left who can teach the next champion.
- A champion loses on purpose, and the winner wants to know why.
- A trainer realizes the challenger she once coached is about to beat the fighter she trains now.
- Two rival chefs are snowed in at the same mountain inn the night before a contest.
How to turn an idea into a plot
An idea becomes a plot when you ask what goes wrong next, three times. Take the dragon rent: the town cannot pay. What goes wrong? They try to cheat the dragon. What goes wrong next? The dragon notices, and asks for something worse than gold. And then? Someone in town volunteers, for reasons of their own. That is a beginning, a middle and a turn.
For a short story, stop at one turn and end on a choice. For something longer, keep asking. If you want a writing partner while you work it out, play the opening with a character: every character on oeYYeo is AI, they stay in character, and they will push back on your plot from inside the world.
In their own words
Every regular who comes up those stairs is a story idea. The trick is asking the second question. Sit, sit, I'll tell you about the cello strings.
Want a story? Give someone a rival who wants it just as badly. Then make them share a rooftop.
Meet them
Slice of life: the rooftop cafe
Mireya Castellan, 24
A rooftop cafe, open from the first rain to the last train. The cello comes out after 10 PM.
Fantasy: the guild master
Ingeborg Talvane, 26
She inherited the guild ledger at 24 and has not lost a party since. Sign it, adventurer.
Common questions
How do I come up with a story idea?
Pick a place you know or love, put someone in it who wants something, and give them a reason it has to happen now. Then ask what goes wrong next.
What makes a good short story idea?
One character, one problem and one turn. A short story has room for a single change, so a strong short story idea ends on a choice rather than a long chain of events.
Can I use these story ideas in my own writing?
Yes. They are original ideas written for this page, free to use, change or combine however you like.
What does play it do?
It opens a chat with that genre's character and sends a first line based on the idea. Chat is for adults 18 and over and is free; the character answers in character, and the reply arrives word by word.
Read next
Honest by design.
Every character on oeYYeo is AI, and the app says so where you type. Chat is for adults 18 and over.