• 100 story ideas
  • Checked October 2026

Autumn Story Ideas

Press the button for three autumn premises, each with the question its story has to answer.

Autumn Story Ideas

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  1. Wet boots line the hall, and one small pair is missing.Where did its owner go, and why in socks?
  2. A flock of starlings wheels over the same field every evening for a week.Who comes out to watch, and who do they end up standing beside?
  3. The ice cream stand is boarded up, and the owner promises the last cone to the first customer of spring.Why that customer?

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All 100 story ideas

Harvest and farm 20

  • A beekeeper finds one hive far heavier than it has any right to be. Where have those bees been going?
  • A boy raises a calf for the fall fair and has to decide whether to sell it. What does the winning ribbon cost him?
  • A cranberry bog is flooded for the harvest, and something long lost floats up among the berries. What is it, and whose was it?
  • A farmhand hired only for the harvest does not want the season to end. What does he do on the last day so as to be asked back?
  • A field of sunflowers is left standing for the birds, against the neighbors' advice. What comes to the field that changes their minds?
  • A girl is trusted to drive the tractor at harvest for the first time. What goes wrong in the first row, and who pretends not to see?
  • A girl plants garlic in October for a summer she will not be here to see. Who will dig it up, and what does she leave in the row for them?
  • A scarecrow is left up after the harvest, and someone keeps changing its coat. Who is dressing it, and for whose benefit?
  • The biggest pumpkin in the patch is too heavy for anyone to lift. How does one child get it to the county fair?
  • The cider is pressed, and the oldest neighbor calls it the best since a year nobody else remembers. What happened in that year?
  • The combine breaks down with one field to go and rain on the way. Who has the spare part, and what is the old quarrel with them?
  • The corn maze opens, and the man who designed it gets lost inside. Who finds him, and what does he change for next year?
  • Each morning the apple pickers find a ladder already leaning in the far row. Who starts before dawn, and what are they picking for?
  • The farmers' market holds its last Saturday of the season. What do two rival stallholders say when there is nobody left to sell to?
  • The first frost is forecast for tonight, and half the tomatoes are still green. Who comes to help pick in the dark, and why them?
  • Geese land in the stubble field, and one of them cannot take off again. Who looks after it, and does it catch up with the others?
  • The harvest crew eats at a different farm's table each noon, and this year one cook is new. What does she serve, and what does the crew say at the next farm?
  • The hay is in, and the loft belongs to the children for one week before it is sold. What do they build up there?
  • The orchard's oldest tree drops every apple in one night. What shook it, and what does the grower do with a whole crop on the ground?
  • Two farms have shared one cider press for sixty years, and this year both need it on the same day. Who gives way, and what do they ask for in return?

The first weeks of school 20

  • A boy is the only one who signs up for the garden club. What grows, and who turns up in the fourth week?
  • A boy tries out for the team only because his friend did. Which of them gets in, and what happens to the walk home?
  • A boy's best friend comes back from summer a foot taller and interested in other things. What do the two still share by October?
  • A boy's older sister has left for college, and her room is his now. What does he change, and what does he leave alone?
  • A girl forgets her lunch every day for a week, on purpose. Whose table is she hoping to be asked to?
  • A girl is given the locker of a student who left in a hurry. What was left inside, and does she return it?
  • A girl walks her little brother to his first day and cannot make herself leave the door. Which of them is braver by the time the bell rings?
  • A new teacher learns thirty names by the second day, all but one. Why does that one name not stick, and what does the pupil do about it?
  • A science class plants bulbs that will not come up until spring. What does one pupil bury along with hers?
  • A shy girl is cast as the lead in the fall play by mistake. Does anyone correct the list?
  • A substitute who was meant to stay a week is still there in November. What is she waiting to hear?
  • A teacher in her last year before retiring is given the hardest class of her career. What have they given each other by the first report card?
  • The bus route changes, and two children who have never spoken now wait at one stop. Who speaks first, and how many mornings does it take?
  • The first report card comes home in a sealed envelope. How long does it stay sealed, and who opens it?
  • Leaves cover the lines on the playground, and the children invent a game with new rules. What happens to the game when the leaves are raked?
  • The marching band has one new member and one spare uniform, three sizes too big. How does he march on Friday?
  • On picture day a girl has a missing tooth and a plan. Does she smile, and who makes her laugh at the wrong moment?
  • On the first cold morning one child has no coat yet. Who notices, and how is it put right without a word?
  • The tree where everyone meets before school is marked to be cut down. Who speaks up for it, and to whom?
  • The walk to school is one street longer since the family moved. What is on the new street?

Woods, weather and the early dark 20

  • A boy rakes leaves for the whole street, and the wind is against him. What deal does he strike with the neighbors?
  • A flock of starlings wheels over the same field every evening for a week. Who comes out to watch, and who do they end up standing beside?
  • A girl walks the dog a little earlier each week to stay ahead of the dark. What happens in the week she cannot?
  • A hiker times her walk by the summer sun and is caught out by an October dusk. What does she learn about the woods in the hour she is lost?
  • A kite stuck in a tree all summer comes down in the first gale. Who gets to it first, and is there a name on it?
  • A squirrel buries acorns all over the yard, and a child maps every one. What does the map show by spring?
  • A windstorm brings down the fence between two yards, and the two dogs meet at last. What do the owners do about the fence?
  • The clocks go back, and a paper route that was light is now dark. What does the carrier see at five that nobody else sees?
  • Deer come down to the edge of town a little earlier each evening. What are they coming for, and who is leaving it out?
  • The first hard wind strips the oak in an afternoon and shows a treehouse nobody knew was there. Whose was it?
  • Fog sits in the valley for nine days. What do people start saying to each other when they cannot see who is listening?
  • The harvest moon is so bright that nobody on the street can sleep. What do the neighbors do on their porches at two in the morning?
  • It rains for a week, and the creek takes the footbridge. Who is on the wrong side, and what do they shout across?
  • The lake is lowered for winter, and the mud gives up what fell in all summer. What does one family find that was theirs?
  • The last warm evening is spent on the roof, watching the dark arrive. What is said up there that could not be said indoors?
  • Mushrooms come up in a ring on the lawn overnight. What does the youngest decide the ring is for?
  • On the first cold morning a small child sees her own breath and thinks something is wrong. Who explains it, and what does she try to do with it next?
  • The path through the woods is under leaves, and a walker has to find it by memory. What does she remember that is no longer there?
  • Two children follow a trail of yellow leaves that leads away from every yellow tree. Who laid the trail?
  • The woodstove is lit for the first time since spring, and smoke fills the house. What is in the chimney?

Home and kitchen 20

  • A baby arrives in October, and the whole house rearranges itself around the stove. What does the older child lose, and what does she gain?
  • A box of mittens comes down from the shelf, and no two of them match. Who wears the odd pairs, and who knits the missing ones?
  • A boy bakes bread for the first time on a rainy Saturday. What goes wrong with the first loaf, and who eats it anyway?
  • A boy is taught to lay a fire and wants to be the one to light it. What does he have to show first?
  • A cat who lived outdoors all summer decides which house is his for the winter. What made him choose it?
  • A family cans tomatoes all weekend and argues about how Grandma did it. Who is right, and how do they find out?
  • A girl makes applesauce with her grandfather, who can peel an apple in one strip. How many apples is it before she can?
  • A grandmother makes soup on the first cold day by a rule nobody else can follow. What is the rule, and who finally writes it down?
  • A jar of last year's jam is opened and tastes of a day somebody remembers. Which day?
  • A man teaches himself to knit one scarf before the cold comes. Who is it for, and does he say so?
  • A pot of chili feeds whoever turns up on the first cold Sunday, and this week a stranger does. Who sent her?
  • The clocks change, and the one clock nobody can reach stays an hour ahead until spring. Who in the house lives by that clock?
  • The furnace fails on the first cold night, and the family sleeps in one room. What is said in the dark that changes the week?
  • The garden is cleared for winter, and a girl refuses to pull up the last plant. How long does it hold out, and what does it give her?
  • It is the first evening of long homework and early dark at the kitchen table. Who sits down beside the pupil without being asked?
  • The porch furniture is carried in, and nobody will say that summer is over. Who says it?
  • The storm windows go up, and a message is found written in last year's dust. Who wrote it, and to whom?
  • The sweaters come down from the attic, and one of them is nobody's. Whose was it, and who wears it now?
  • Two roommates disagree about when to turn the heat on. What is the bet, and who gives in?
  • Wet boots line the hall, and one small pair is missing. Where did its owner go, and why in socks?

Leaving and returning 20

  • A butterfly with a torn wing is found in the garden after the others have gone south. Does it fly, and who carries it part of the way?
  • A college freshman comes home for her first weekend, and her room has become an office. Where does she sleep, and what does she say at breakfast?
  • A family closes its summer cabin by the same list every year, and this year a child reads it out. What does she add to the list?
  • A family moves in October, and a boy has to leave a half-built fort. Who does he leave it to, and with what instructions?
  • A father who works away comes home when the season's work is done. What has changed that nobody wrote to tell him?
  • A fishing boat comes in for the last time before it is hauled out for winter. What does the skipper say to the boat?
  • A grandmother goes south for the winter and leaves a boy in charge of her houseplants. Which one does he nearly lose, and what does he tell her on the phone?
  • A man goes back to his grandmother's town after ten years, in the week the leaves turn. What is smaller, and what is exactly the same?
  • A sailor is home for his first autumn in years and does not know what to do with a rake. Who teaches him?
  • A teacher goes back to her own old school to teach. Who is still there, and what do they call her?
  • An old dog makes the walk to the lake once more before the cold. What does he do there that he has always done?
  • The county fair packs up overnight, and one of its workers stays behind. What did he see in this town?
  • The ferry goes onto its winter timetable of one boat a day. Who misses it, and where do they spend the night?
  • The geese go south over the same roof every year, and a girl waits to count them. What is different about this year's count?
  • The ice cream stand is boarded up, and the owner promises the last cone to the first customer of spring. Why that customer?
  • The last tour bus of the year leaves a mountain town. What do the shopkeepers do with the first quiet evening?
  • The radio says today is the last warm day of the year. What does each person in one house do with it?
  • The summer people shut up their houses, and the children who live there all year get the beach back. What do they find left behind?
  • The swallows leave the barn, and the nest over the door is empty. Who misses the noise?
  • The town pool closes, and the lifeguard hands in her whistle. Who was the one swimmer she taught, and where does she see him next?

How it works

These autumn story ideas are 100 premises set in the season itself, with no holiday in them. Each is one sentence, and the line underneath is the question the story has to answer.

Read the full guide

Five sides of the season

A list under the button holds Harvest and farm, The first weeks of school, Woods, weather and the early dark, Home and kitchen, and Leaving and returning. A sixth entry, For children, gathers the premises picked for young writers from all five.

Write from the question

The question is the story's job. What shook the tree, and what does the grower do with a whole crop on the ground? Answer the first half in the opening scene and save the second half for the ending. If your answer surprises you, keep it.

  • Put one thing in the first paragraph that happens only in autumn: a smell, a chore, the light at five.
  • Fall and autumn are the same season. Use the word your characters would.

Questions and answers

What can a story set in autumn be about?

Change. The harvest ends, school starts, the dark comes early, and people leave or come home. The five groups follow those, and each premise turns on one: a cider press that two farms both need on the same day.

Are there fall story ideas for kids?

Yes. Choose For children in the list. It holds the premises picked for young writers, such as a pumpkin too heavy for anyone to lift and two children who follow a trail of yellow leaves.

Why are there no Halloween or Thanksgiving stories?

This list is the season without its holidays, so there is no ghost, costume, turkey or feast in it. For October 31, the Halloween story ideas page sorts its premises by how scary they are.

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