Open Novella Contest 2021 Entry - Every thirteen cycles of the blue moon, the elves came down the beanstalk to take their tithe of children. Mary lives with her family in their clinic in the small town of Ishida. Wanting to make a difference - and to see the wider world - Mary decides to tithe herself to the elves to learn their healing magic. But the elves hide a darker secret, and it will take Mary everything she has to free herself from their clutches.

[ON JANUARY 8TH 2024, UNDER CONSTRUCTION FOR EDITS] ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ 🌟 Open Novella Contest 2021 ➤ Prompt #29: ❝I am in the mood to dissolve in the sky.❞ - Virginia Woolf ➤ Round One, Two, Longlist, and Shortlist Qualifier ✨ ➤ Honorable Mention | All The Feels 💕 💫 Round One First Place Winner 2021 ◇ @WattpadSocialMedia | DM Me | Teen and NA reading list ◇ May 21, 2021 ◇ @OpenNovellaContest | 2021 Round Winners ◇ March 25, 2021 ◇ @OpenNovellaContest | Longlist Part 2 ◇ May 27, 2021 ◇ @OpenNovellaContest | 2021 Honorable Mentions | All the Feels ◇ June 30, 2021 ◇ @WattpadShortStory | Strugglers ◇ June 30, 2021 ◇ @generalfiction | Freestyle Fiction | Miscellaneous ◇ September 8, 2021 ◇ @ProfileMentalHealth | A New Day ◇ September 30, 2021 ◇ Contemporary Romantics Award: #RomanticsAwards2022: Shortlist ◇ March 15, 2022 ◇ Contemporary Romantics Award: #RomanticsAwards2022: Finale #1 in #bu

Is it possible to fall in love with someone you've never met? When Amos Castillo buys a vintage guitar at a pawnshop, he discovers more than an SG Gibson inside the hard leather case. A hidden compartment filled with journal entries gives him a glimpse into Carmela's tumultuous relationship with her addict rockstar husband, Rodrigo. She's a young woman, navigating a world she wasn't ready for, and suffering in silence as she loses herself to his addiction and manipulations. The more Amos reads, the more he realizes their lives aren't so different. While Carmela struggles to find her voice in a toxic marriage, Amos finds himself in a five-year relationship going nowhere. As he silently roots for Carmela to leave her husband, he reclaims his life by figuring out what he needs to be happy. >A dual POV story told in 1st and 3rd person< If you liked It Ends With Us and Daisy Jones & the Six, you will like this. ~~~~~~~~~~~ [[Top 5 Winner - 4th Place]] 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏 [[ ONC Round One Winner - 2nd Place ]] 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙩 #29 "𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙮" -𝙑𝙞𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙖 𝙒𝙤𝙤𝙡𝙛 [[1st Place Winner]] 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 - 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏

WARM BODIES meets THE BREAKFAST CLUB meets ZOMBIELAND in this YA apocalypse story full of fluff, comedy and humans biting back. ✿ "When I imagined my high school crush would be dying to eat me, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind." ✿✿ Ava Sterling never expected she'd be the one solution to the zombie apocalypse. Then again, she never expected she would end up biting one of them either. But, hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. During a moment of intense panic, Ava's teeth end up firmly lodged in the arm of her old crush, now turned very much zombie. A spur-of-the-moment impulse that even drowning in mouthwash wouldn't erase. After this impromptu bite, Gabriel the zombie turns back into Gabriel the human and the zombie apocalypse suddenly takes a completely different turn. This not-so-fun revelation changes everything for Ava's ragtag group of survivalists. Tensions are higher than ever. Feelings are getting in the way. And it seems that being newly re-humanized does leave some nasty mental side-effects on the previously zombified. Still, not everything is that bleak for Ava and her survivors. For one, it's finally time for the humans to bite back. ✿✿✿ ACHIEVEMENTS: 🏅ONC Round One Winner, Ambassador's Pick & Shortlister WARNING: There is occasional swearing, some gore, and lots of laughs. You have been warned.

[ONC ROUND ONE WINNER: 4th place] When he discovers his husband has been replaced, an android hunter must find the impostor in time to rescue the man he loves. SynTracker is one half of a duology of novellas. Both follow the same sequence of events from different PoVs. SynTracker is Ian's tale; BioSynth is Quentin's. Collectively, they're known as Syn. ≡≡≡ Ian Morgan is a man who does the wrong job for the right reasons. Honour-bound to keep the streets safe, Ian is a SynTracker: someone whose job is to hunt down BioSynths - obsolete yet incredibly dangerous synthetic self-aware weapons - and return them to the government, to be reprogrammed and repurposed. It'd be an easier task if they hadn't been programmed to mimic reactions that allow them to pass as humans, complete with tears. Deeply in love with Quentin, his husband of eight years, Ian's home life more than makes up for the work that wears him down. But a car crash that could have killed Quentin reveals a shocking truth: his husband has been replaced by a BioSynth. With the impostor on the loose, Ian must now Track it, knowing he needs to comb its memories for any clue regarding Quentin's whereabouts - if he's even alive. ≡≡≡ SynTracker was written for the Open Novella Contest 2021 and is based on prompt #4: You're a weapon, and weapons don't weep. It features a romance between two men. ≡≡≡ ONC Round One Winner: 4th Place Speculative Fiction Awards, Utopia/Distopia: Runner-Up R4R Awards, Sci-Fi: 2nd Place

[ONC Shortlist | ROUND ONE Top 5 Winner | Based on ONC2021 prompt #13] What would you do if you woke up in a fairytale? A young, fourteen year old Ruby-Rose wakes up in a medieval castle unsure how she got there. But soon, with the help of an unexpected chambermaid and a scary dwarf who isn't a dwarf, Ruby discovers the world is none other than that of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Except, this is not exactly the fairytale she's grown up with. Snow White isn't the sweet, innocent Princess but the Evil Queen herself, her seven dwarfs are in fact fearsome knights, and Ruby-Rose isn't your average human. [This is the first, original draft of this story, written for the ONC 2021. Coming SOON, the expanded version as 'Ruby Rose'.] FEATURED IN: Round One Top 5 - ONC 2021 Round Two Qualifier - ONC 2021 @classicauthors - Grimm Retellings and Other Fairytales (March 2021) @retold - Fractured Fairytales (May 2021) @retold - Book of the Month (May 2021) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Eva Acharya, 2021. Cover made using Canva Pro.

[ROUND TWO QUALIFIER ONC] Hera Collins, the daughter of two well-known heroes, has to survive leaving London and everything she has ever known behind and decide whether being good - following her parents' footsteps - is the path she wants to take. Hera has always been told what her future will be, what with her mother being Light - a powerful Lorem with the ability to bend light - and her father being Crow - the hero who saved London from a hurricane - she is expected to uphold the family lineage. But then one day, London is taken under siege by the Dominus Gang, all the Lorem she knows thrown into camps - or worse, killed - for the sole reason of having powers. Now she is left on her own, her feelings towards non-powered people very negative due to their similarity to the group of criminals. What happens when our sixteen-year-old Hera is left alone in the city of Venice after escaping London with her aunt, leaving her parents behind? Will she follow the path that was set for her, or will she go the opposite way, and become a villain? ~~~~~~~~~~ Started: 11th February Finished:

[ONC 2021] "Do you still love her?" "Do I look like I ever stopped?" • It's 1950's Vienna with the Duvals on their 20th-anniversary date. Every time it comes up Bette can't stop thinking about what could've happened if her first love was her last. This time the feeling is harder because her paramour is present. What could possibly happen when two fools in love are reunited? • A story of love, heartbreak, and nostalgia. • Round info: - Round One Qualifier! - Round Two Qualifier! -Longlisted! • 20-40k word count • Cover image from Pinterest.

SOOO we obviously didn't make the deadline lol. This story is unfinished and will remain that way. This is the best example of a rushed concept with no actual plot lol. I wrote blind and hated most of what I had written. I've redesigned this concept and I'm rewriting it with a stronger concept and a laid-out plot. I will release the rewrite when it's done. I'm keeping this published so I can look back at my growth and so others can also see the transformation if they are interested. [ROUND THREE QUALIFIER] Simone's family is her life until she is called as one of the hundred winners given a chance at a new life. When Simone Moss enters the Healthy Human Dome, she is pushed into a deadly game that challenges her in every way possible. While this dark game is filled with blood, it also forces her to face her inner demons and grow in unexpected ways. "Every life you take raises the price of your own. Are you worth more than any of them?" This is my entry to the 2021 Open Novella Contest. Thank you for reading, commenting, and voting. This is my first story outside of fantasy as well as my first 3rd person story. Good or bad, I'd love to hear what you think, it'll help me grow as a writer.

It was supposed to be simple prank, one that would not lead to any problems in the life of Princess Nhyira of Diamantí. What happens when an unexpected incident occurs at her coming of age ball? Will Princess Nhyira find a way to save the day or would she get in trouble? Read to find out. Read on to find out. PS: The name is pronounced [ in- shi- ra]