»Still standing means you never stopped fighting.« After a career‑halting injury, Jude Calloway isn't sure he can ever lace up his skates again. But hockey runs through his veins and when he returns to the ice, it's not just rivals he has to face. Seth Navarro has always been the best defenseman in the league and Jude's biggest challenge. When old rivalries ignite and sparks fly, Jude must confront more than fear-he has to risk everything, including his heart. On the ice, love and courage collide. Will Jude rise to the challenge, or will fear keep him off the rink forever? ⚞ • ⚟ Entry for the Open Novella Contest 2026 Main Prompt ➸ 30. You return to the sport you love after an injury. You are determined to overcome not just your rivals but also your fears. Open Novella Contest Achievements ‣ Round 1 | 2k Words ✔ ‣ Round 2 | 8k Words ✔ ‣ Round 3 | 20-40k Words ✔ ©️ ofbooksandcats on Wattpad | 2026

The elders promised Violet, a self-described "scrappy" wolfling, that her metamorphosis into a full-fledged werewolf would reveal her purpose within monstrum society's strict hierarchy. Little did they know, that purpose would be to tear the whole thing apart, one bite at a time. Bite is a humorous and raw exploration of shame, exploitation, and feminine rage. Trigger warning: This novella deals with mature themes, including sexual misconduct, corporal punishment, discrimination, and child abuse.

Noah Reyes wrote a book that never went anywhere. Every weekday morning, he rides the same train for five stops, carrying the quiet disappointment of a story that slipped through the cracks of the algorithm. His attempts to promote it on TikTok feel more like confessions than marketing. Until one morning, Noah notices a stranger across the aisle. Leather jacket. Work boots. A biker. And in his hands, Noah's book, worn and dog-eared, being read with the biggest smile Noah has ever seen. Julian Cross did not pick up the book by accident. He found it online, recognized the author from the train, and started reading it not just to understand the story, but to understand himself. Five stops is not much time. But sometimes, it is enough to change everything. ♥️ Entry for the Open Novella Contest 2026 Main Prompt ↦ 22. Your book never found much success, but on a train ride you spot a stranger reading it with the biggest smile you've ever seen. © 2026 ↦ onechapteraway on Wattpad

🎏 Author Comment: This tale has been designed and written for younger readers but it can be enjoyed by all. ─ᛰ─ In the elder days before mortal kings etched their borders into stone, before time was measured by crowns and conquests, when Elven Folk shared the world with mortals under treaties older than memory, there came upon our people an age of quiet sundering. It was a time when Giants still walked the high places, when Dragons passed like storms along the horizons, and when Elven Folk shared the world with mortals under treaties older than memory. Yet even then, doubt found root. In those days there arose among mortals a whispering hunger, seeded by those who wore borrowed faces. The Changeling Wizards, who fed fear as if it were wisdom. Convincing mortal kings, the magic of the elves no longer served them. What had once been shared truth became superstition. What had once been kinship became a war of wills. From that hour, the old goodwill ended. Thus the space between our peoples widened, until the old paths closed and we were pressed back into the frost-bitten heights of our ancestral lands. And what would happen next would leave the old world in the silent throes of an uneasy realization that all was not as it seemed... A time when love and acceptance became fear and those fears bred greed. Greed bred forgetting. And forgetting became blame. But in that age arose two souls. One born of mortal blood, one of mortal grace. Who chose to stand where others turned away. Alvaro, and Daniela of the western shores, whose names the stone itself remembers. ─ᛰ─ ONC Prompt 78 You begin to realize that things are not as they seem. 🎏 Author Comment: This tale has been designed and written for younger readers but it can be enjoyed by all.

Riley is a small-town girl looking for a new start in the city after a public scandal leaves her reeling and fending for herself for the first time in her life. Newly single and on her own, Riley fights for her place in a brand-new world. Instead, she finds herself peering through fences, engaging in a feud with her hot neighbor over chickens and eggs, and falling in love in a secret backyard garden. Main prompt - 39 (altered). After being cheated on, you go from being the most popular socialite to becoming a nobody. Side prompt - 28. Self-love often starts small, like planting a single seed. With time, patience, and a bit of light, it will blossom.

A rivalry steeped in salt, an adventure cursed to fail, and a love doomed from the start. A tale of the ocean, a mythical treasure, and a fantastical academy where stars, monsters, and the sea are all on the agenda.

~A ROBERT IRWIN FANFICTION FOR WATTPADS 2026 ONC~ Having survived an accident that wiped your memory of everything but your celeb crush on Bryan Erwin (Robert Irwin), you find yourself alone in the town of Beerhwa after an unsuccessful trip to the Australia Zoo to see him. However, when you stumble upon a strange local magic shop, the witch seems to recognize you. Tempting you make an impulsive decision to buy an overpriced stone in the hope of regaining the memories she promises it will bring. But this stone brings more than just your memories of your past, for as soon as the old witch hands you the stone, your celebrity crush stumbles through the magic shop's doors as if he has been searching for you... instead of the other way around. With a single kiss, he brings back your memories of your past on a planet far, far away. Where you were tasked to search for the one who escaped to earth with your leader's prized "Eggs of Immorality", and remember the story of how you fell in love with that man's son and the world he cared so much for instead. Inspired by Prompt 41. You never imagined that one impulsive purchase from a magical shop would catapult you into the middle of an intergalactic conflict.

Lena Harris doesn't do messy. She deals in information and observations, small gaps and mistakes that can be leveraged to make problems go away. She gets her jobs done quickly, cleanly, and efficiently, and then she moves on, never dwelling on the past or worrying about anything beyond the next operation. And that's the way she likes it. Until her boss assigns her to the messiest operation she's ever faced. Now her carefully built up professional distance is collapsing around her, and she doesn't know how to hold it up- or if she even wants to anymore. __________ Open Novella Contest (ONC2026), prompt 33: It doesn't take long before everything in your life spins out of control. One moment you're a secret assassin, and the next you've somehow been hired as a nanny and you're not entirely sure how it happened.

Mallory has a mission, a purpose, an end in sight. She doesn't need fun or distractions. She's driven and focused to the point of inattention to any and all things going on around her. And that's how it happens. One moment she's checking her mail before heading to her last class of the day, and the next she's staring at the remains of her emotional support coffee all over her shirt, the floor, and the handsome neighbor she's never even noticed until today. His presence in her life is a nuisance and the absolute last thing she would have wanted, but maybe, just maybe, he might be something she needed. __________ Open Novella Contest (ONC2026), prompt 19: when you accidentally spill coffee on someone, the moment that should've ruined your day becomes the beginning of a surprising and life changing friendship. I told myself I wasn't going to do it, I wasn't going to attempt two novellas at once when I have so many other things started. But clearly the muse is strong and the will is weak.

Emily never planned on ruining a wedding. She only wanted to stop the man she thought got away from marrying someone else. One dramatic "I object!" later, she's mascara-streaked, heartbroken, and sitting on the curb with a suitcase full of regrets. The problem? She objected at the wrong wedding. Now Noah is away on his honeymoon, and Em is left wondering if timing will always betray her. But when a stranger steps into her disaster, she begins to realize that wrong weddings lead to the right beginnings. . . . !!This is my submission for the Open Novella Contest 2026!! Prompt 50: You sneak into a wedding to declare your love for the groom, but you're a day late.