ONC 2023 Shortlister & Nano Watt 2023 Shortlist Novella Inspired by the prompt: 28: Stumped on a history assignment, you stumble across a time machine that will bring you back to the time period you're studying. ↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹ It all began with an assignment... Why? Why did I pick Cleopatra?! All I wanted to do was to submit my History in English Literature assignment, so how is it I woke up in the time of Cleopatra VII? Not only that, I am Cleopatra. ↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹ After receiving a distressing text from her best friend, Thea finds herself in the location where he was meant to be working on a secret science project. However, upon arriving, she discovers that the project may have been more revolutionary than she realised. However, with great progress comes even greater betrayals and she finds herself stuck in a time she couldn't even formulate a simple essay on. ↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹ Started: 3 February 2023 Completed: 10 April 2023 Edited by: @TheRebeccaBlake NB: Word count excludes A/N and banners

The year is 2040, and for the clones that were created during the brief run of a shady high tech company in the early 2020's, the time has come for them to become adults. Madelyn has been attending an all girls' boarding school with a large percentage of cloned girls for all of her academic life, and sees the changes in the girls as they approach graduation. Many of the clones were made from stolen DNA from supermodels, singers and actresses, and have almost no shot at a real future because of the sheltered way they were raised. They'd been isolated and completely dependent on the school and the families that ordered them as though they were nothing more than food on a menu. But not every clone is going down without a flight, as Madelyn finds out when she meets her new next door neighbor. This was written for the Open Novelle Contest 2023, Prompt 61: A new neighbor comes to town. Not a very social person, they hide out in their house every day, only leaving through tinted cars. Then, one night when you are going out, you look straight into the face of your idol.

Free-spirited homebody Erica doesn't want to be queen. Which is fine, because her single, independent older sister Gemma is more than ready for the job. But their father doesn't care about any of that. He thinks a queen ought to be married and producing heirs (Yes, he really says producing heirs) if she is to take the throne. No matter how hard the girls try to convince him, the king will not budge. Gemma needs to get married at her upcoming birthday ball or he passes her over in favour of her sister being the next queen. Desperate to turn their circumstances back right-side-up, the two concoct a plan to find someone for Gemma to choose who will definitely not choose her back. But in order to do that, Erica is going to have to work together with her longtime crush. Who doesn't know she exists. She'll have to keep her feelings in check if she's going to convince him to help, but she might want to offer him a little something in return. ~ * ~ * ~ This is one of the five novellas I'll be writing for this year's ONC! You can find the rest of the stories (Hang it Up, Christmas at the Cabin, Love Lies & Red Eyes, and Runaway Fiances) on my profile! This story is based on prompt #49: "Master the rules of the game until you can play it better than they can."

||WATTY WINNER 2023🌟|| Two strangers pretend to be a couple to win a dumb bet. The wager: they must enrol in couples therapy and fool their counselor. _________ Six non-refundable couples counseling sessions. That's how many Clementine booked for him and his girlfriend to sort out their relationship problems. What he didn't see coming was getting dumped as soon as he informed her of it. Enter Everett, a chaotic, curly-haired boy who barges into Clementine's life. He offers to fake date and attend the counseling sessions with Clementine. Unfortunately, they are both idiots. Did they really believe they could safely fake-date in a Wattpad book and NOT fall in love? ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 Might bring to mind: "Heartstopper" but with a ton more baking and fake dating 🌈 🎼🎶 This book has a Spotify playlist with a song for each chapter. To download it you can search me on Spotify @itsmeimthevampire - the playlist name is "Idiots To Lovers." 🏅🏅🏅 Watty Winner 2023. Shortlisted in the Open Novella Contest 2023. Featured on Wattpad profiles: @Lgbtq @FreeTheLgbt @Romance 🏆🏆🏆 #2 lgbt #2 lgbtq 📆 10/5/23 #4 gay 21/5/23 #4 bxb 14/5/23 #5 boyxboy 13/5/23 #1 gayromance 5/5/23 #1 gayshipsareyayships 14/5/23 Written for ONC2023 using prompt 39: On a blind date with a complete mismatch, you're increasingly uncomfortable but too polite to leave. Then an attractive stranger comes over and gives you an out.

Desdemona ''Des'' Winchester wants nothing to do with Melliford Academy. In fact, she's pretty sure her parents shipped her off to boarding school just to get her out of their hair. It's a move they'll come to regret if she has any say in the matter. Nothing humiliates posh folk like having a daughter sent home from the country's most esteemed educational institution. Just flunking class isn't dramatic enough, though. Des plans to get booted in the most spectacular manner possible, just to make sure her parents' social circle will never let them live it down. Her scheming, unfortunately, encounters three roadblocks within the first week of class. The first: Exie Quinnell, teacher's pet, whip-smart, and unreasonably attractive. Neither girl intended to end up on a project together, but their teacher deemed Des in need of a little... remediation. The second: There are things about Melliford Academy that none of the teachers will talk about, even when pressed. Things that should be easy answers. The third: The first student found dead with a folded paper dove perched on their chest. ❖❖❖ Complete and fully edited. Comments and critiques are both welcome and appreciated. I write characters from many different backgrounds, with many different experiences. If you share those traits and find that I have misrepresented anything, please let me know! I am feedback-friendly and here to learn :)

Florist, Anya is determined that this will be the year her career blooms like the sweet jasmines she's tended to. She's in for a rude shock when she rents a building only to find out that it's been given to gorgeous and confident Kaynath, who owns her family confectionery. Kaynath never intended to get in her way to jeopardize her business but it's not her fault that the town has come to adore her sweets and chosen her. Recruiting the help of Mirza, her long time best friend, who runs a Bridal boutique, she vows to take over the building and make her business flourish. Mirza doesn't want to be caught in their drama, especially since Kaynath is her regular customer and she adores her best friend. She proposes that whoever makes the most sales after a month gets to keep the building permanently, which they both oblige to. Anya soon finds out that maybe she's got a sweet tooth not just for one, but maybe two people after all, if she can handle the secrets under the sweet sugar glaze and glamorous veils.

What's worse than waking up beside a dead body and a bag of dirty money? Not remembering how the f*ck you got there. Or even who you are. ~~~ When Roxanne wakes up to find a lifeless woman next to her in bed in a hotel room she doesn't recognize, she's swift to call the front desk for help. There's been a murder, after all! But fear for her life quickly turns into fear of going to prison when all the evidence seems to point towards her as the culprit. A duffel bag filled with thousands of dollars? Check. A trashed room as evidence of an obvious struggle? Check. A whole notebook with her handwriting detailing coded homicidal plans? Check. Any memories prior to this morning? ... Imma need to circle back to this later. Amidst the disastrous morning appears a sexy little stranger offering her help- a bit too eagerly, might I add. Between navigating the life of crime she woke up to and figuring out what exactly happened the night of the murder, Roxanne is also faced with her glaringly obvious attraction to the stranger turned partner-in-crime. ~~~ Agatha might appear to be nothing but a heaven sent helper, but she's got secrets of her own. Ones that would threaten everything she's been working towards if found out. In light of this, she vows to stay focused on the task at hand and leave as soon as possible. So why does she find herself spending more time with the woman she's supposed to keep at arm's length? ~~~ One overnight-amnesiac, one professional schemer. One dead body to get rid of, and one mystery to unfold. It's about to get busy. Heed the sign on the door. Do Not Disturb. ~~~ AN: This is a novella written for the ONC2023. CWs are inside, please check those out first. Prompt # 32: Your character awakens to discover a dead body in the bed next to them and a duffel bag stuffed full of cash on the floor... But the scariest thing is, they have no memory of what happened, or even who they are.

If you'd like to pick up mind-reading, look no further! This unorthodox guide by a normie draws on first-hand encounters with mind-readers, which means you get an outsider's perspective. If one day you find yourself unable to read minds anymore, or it suddenly occurs to you that you could never read minds, pray that 1) you do not expose yourself, and 2) you have this guide with you. Else, you're in for a wild ride. Hope the taxi from the urban legends exists in your city. It will make things a tad easier since it takes you to places you never knew you needed to be at until you're there.

"If I cannot move Heaven, then I will raise Hell. And I will do it for you. Again, again, and again." *** Iris Irai, a half-demon of wrath, is living in anything but paradise. She works as a cleaning lady at the Paradise Resort, a hotel in the Florida Keys that is catered to retiree demons who vacation from Hell...and divulge in their sins on Earth. It's full of debauchery, depravity, and death. Iris doesn't want to be there; demons make the worst customers. She's paying off a debt for a virtue she committed years ago--and is still haunted by. Something is wrong. The tides are turning. The customers are getting rowdier. The sea, colder. Dead bodies becoming more frequent. Abilities going haywire. A hurricane is forming offshore, literally and metaphorically, and it will destroy everything Iris knows. ...And then there's the mysterious angel, Riel, who tries to kill Iris and shut down the hotel. She must work with him, exploring a strange hotel and equally strange Florida Keys, to find answers and dissipate the oncoming storm. Together, they learn that there is more than good and bad, angels and demons--and they maybe even fall in love along the way. *** For ONC 2023! The prompts used are: "Hell is empty and all the devils are here." - William Shakespeare (#63) and "An attractive and mysterious stranger moves into town. While everyone is desperate to make an impression, only you notice something odd about them." (#50) (Cover is drawn by me!) *** 1st Place Winner (Best Cover) for the Ambrosia Awards! 1st Place Winner (Best Protagonist) for the Ambrosia Awards!