Hey there readers! It's that time of year again when Wattpad hosts the Open Novella Contest, or ONC as those in the know like to call it. This will be my fourth go around with it. I jumped on board for the first time in 2021, and my story Space Vigilante made its way onto the shortlist! My 2022 offering, Super Screwup, did not fare as well with the judges, although it might be my favorite of the three novellas I've completed thus far. The powers that be did not agree, however, as my 2023 attempt, Can't Remember September, landed itself on the shortlist as well. I seem to possibly be developing a little pattern here. What will happen this year? If the trend holds, this would not be my year, but I'm all about bucking trends! That's right, we're going for the grand prize this year! What do I get? A million dollars? Or just a cool sticker to put on the cover? Whatever happens, I will be happy if I do my best and write a story I'm proud of. I don't see any reason why that shouldn't be the case, so it's already a win in my book. I hope you'll enjoy going along for the ride with me whether this thing gets shortlisted, longlisted, or no listed. You can also read all three of my other novellas right here on Wattpad, if you get a hankering to.
There were a lot of good prompts this year and I was wavering back and forth between a few different ones, but in the end I've decided to go with prompt number 36: "Fairytales are real," and there couldn't be anything worse.
Some of the other prompts sounded really interesting and I will be curious to see what others do with them. I picked this one because it sparked my imagination and I could see a lot of potentially interesting scenarios. There are a lot of fairytales out there to draw from, after all. There should easily be enough material to sustain a novella. I wouldn't want to run out of steam after only a couple chapters and I don't think I will with this premise. I suppose you never know. I'm writing this note on the same day the prompts were posted, so we'll meet back here after I hopefully complete this thing and see what's what. I haven't had a lot of time at this point to plan out the whole thing, but my brain is percolating with ideas already and that's usually a good sign. All right, are you ready? Let's do this!
YOU ARE READING
Ever After (ONC 2024)
FantasyNot all fairy tales have happy endings, which Arthur is about to discover in a big way. After an especially bad day of work, he makes a wish on a star that all of the magical stories his Nana used to tell him when he was a boy were real. Life in t...
