r/shortstories

91K archived posts · Mar 2008 – Sep 2026

Short Stories

r/shortstories

This is a place to submit your original short stories and be part of a community of writers.

Created Mar 23, 2008

91KMembers (last snapshot)

91KArchived posts

Welcome to shortstories!

Please contribute!

This is a place to submit your original short stories. Discussion threads regarding existing works are encouraged.

Weekly Schedule

Click features below for archives

Feature (Archive)	Latest
Serial Sunday	Kneel!
Micro Monday	Missed Connections!
Off Topic Posts	Apply to Mod!

RULES AND GUIDELINES

1. Keep It About the Writing Here

No advertisements
Authors are allowed to link to a personal subreddit or Reddit profile. Do not link to a site where you can monetise - including, but not limited to: Kofi, Medium, Patreon, Paypal, and Youtube - or to a website where you are selling things.
No requesting writing services, calls for submissions, or homework help.
The story must be posted on this subreddit in the text box, not linked to.
Please post only the story. Any commentary may be left in a top level comment.

2. Posts Must Be in English, and Good-Faith Attempts

Minimum of 500 words. You can check out r/flashfiction for shorter works.
Posts must have a properly formatted title. Not sure how to properly capitalize? Here’s a handy tool.
Plagiarism will result in a ban. Do not post other people's work.
No joke posts, copypasta, troll, fecal, urine, meme-based, or AI generated stories.
Only one short story post per user every 24 hours

3. Stories Must Be Properly Formatted

Unformatted walls of text will be removed. Code blocks that do not serve a narrative function or stretch on for far too long will be removed.
Use linebreaks for new paragraphs and changing speakers in dialogue.
Follow basic punctuation and grammar rules.
Stories should look like a revised draft. Think of your readers' enjoyment.
Use this tool to check what your post will look like before submitting!

4. No Reposts

5. No Harmful or NSFW Content

Includes, but is not limited to, explicit suicide or suicide-note stories, pedophilia, rape, bestiality, necrophilia, incest, explicit sex, and graphic depictions of abuse or torture.
You are welcomed and encouraged to provide content warnings at the top of your story if you are dealing with heavy topics.
Use your best judgement, but mods have final say.

6. Avoid Racism and Political Debate

Slurs will result in removal and possible ban. Find a better way to vilify a character than them utilizing hate speech.
Political soapboxing and tirades of political parties, ideologies, or actions will be removed.
Avoid real-world drama such as current events or political climate

7. Be Civil in Discussion, Feedback, and Critiques

Users are held to a higher standard here. Think before posting; that is another person you are talking to.

8. All Submissions Must be Tagged

Add the tag at beginning of your post title. Basically, your post should look something like this:

[SF] My Sci-Fi Story Title

Using the correct tag will allow the bot to apply the correct flair to your post. This will help readers find the types of stories they enjoy.

[Apply to Moderate r/shortstories!](https://redd.it/1av2c36)

Submission Tags:

[SF] Science Fiction

Fiction dealing with futuristic settings such as futuristic science and technology. It often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations, and has been called a "literature of ideas".

[FN] Fantasy

Fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary plot element, theme, or setting.

[HR] Horror

A genre of literature that has the capacity to frighten, scare, or startle its readers by inducing feelings of horror, terror, and in some cases loathing.

[MS] Mystery & Suspense

Fiction dealing with mysteries, usually about a detective or other law enforcer trying to solve a crime.

[RF] Realistic Fiction

A genre of fiction that is untrue, but could actually happen. Or predicts events that will happen in the near future.

[HF] Historical Fiction

A form of fiction where the settings are drawn from history, and often contains historical persons. Works in this genre often portray the manners and social conditions of the persons or times presented in the story, with attention paid to historical accuracy.

[AA] Action & Adventure

This is a genre of fiction in which an adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, forms the main storyline.

[HM] Humor

A story that has humorous elements such as random use of words or nonsensical words. Humor stories can also be reflective of reality, portraying it in a funny way.

[RO] Romance

Stories of this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, or sometimes a love triangle.

[SP] Speculative Fiction

A broad genre of fiction that encompasses any fiction with supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements.

[TH] Thriller

Not the Michael Jackson, "Thriller" but rather a genre that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as its main elements.

[UR] Urban

A story taking place in a city landscape the genre is as much defined by the socioeconomic realities and culture of its characters in the urban setting.

[MF] Misc Fiction

Basically any fiction that doesn't fit into any of the other categories.

[NF] Non-Fiction

A story that actually happened, or describes real events.

[MT] Meta Post

For posts that aren't stories but meta questions/announcements.

[OT] Off Topic

Pretty much the same thing as the above, although more for user's use.

Rule breaking posts or comments may be removed without notice. Rule breaking may result in a permanent ban without prior warning. If you spot a violation, please use the Report button underneath the post. This is the best way to help! If you have an issue with other users, send us a modmail.

Related Links

WritingPrompts - Prompts and motivation to create something out of nothing.
WPCritique - WritingPrompts gets critical.
promptoftheday - A new prompt every day!
Story - Tell your stories!
HireaWriter - A place for job postings as well as a place for writers looking for work.
shortscarystories - Because sometimes the scariest stories, are those that leave us to our imagination.
The Artifice - A community for discussion of art and literature.
Onewordstorys - Tell a story, one word at a time.
RisingAuthors - A place for new and aspiring writers and poets to promote their work.
WriteATale - A place to create a story with other writers, 20 words at a time.

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