❝ DON'T GET LOST IN THE WOODS FOR THEY ARE HUNGRY ❞ Vesnyana died a long time ago. As a rusalka, she is now bound to haunt the waters that took her life - and drown hapless folks in their cold depths. However, the woods have become quiet over the years, and her endless hungerhas become more tormenting. That is, until the summer solstice, which drives young lovers into the trees in search of the magical fern flower. But only one of them is truly determined to find it. Which is but a game for other youths in the village of Lasow, to Yara seems like the only way to free herself from her sorrows. Little does she know what dangers await her and her best friend Levik due to her desperate pursuit. One of them, lurking in a cold river, desires the flower herself ...

The Open Novella Contest is back for 2026! Join fellow storytellers and plant the seed of a tale that will blossom into a 20,000+ word novella within 12 weeks! Your epic quest begins February 1st, 2026, so mark your calendars with this date!

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield meets The Haunting of the Hill House (the Netflix series) in this tale of paleoanthropological terror that plays with the famous theory of the uncanny valley by Masahiro Mori. *** PhD student Giselle Brown is at her hometown to complete her dissertation in peace, hardly expecting anything surprising to happen. Her life is muddled as it is; she doesn't need more trouble to spice it up. But when the bones of a human cadaver are discovered by the local anglers, which turn out to be the remains of her long-lost mother, Giselle's life is thrown into a tumult. Twenty years ago, Giselle's mother, Julia Brown, had disappeared from their house, leaving behind a trail of heartbreak and despair. The police never found her mother, which drove her father to suicide, her older sister to turn mute and to be admitted in a mental institution, leaving the full onus of raising Giselle on her grandmother. Her mother was more a legend in their house than a person who haunted their every action and Giselle's most haunting thoughts. Somewhere deep down Giselle had always sought answers to what happened to her mother and the disturbing facets of the last week she was with their family. Now, with the corpse recovered and identified, the investigation that had once gone cold resumes upon Giselle's insistence. Yet things get stranger as the police uncover the most bizarre facts about the cadaver and details about the last days of Julia's life. Giselle is plagued by reflections that are not quite hers, shadows that stretch too long, figures appearing at the edge of the woods close to her home and a lingering sense of being watched. Giselle doesn't know what to do. Can she really trust her mind? Or is nothing as it seems? For Julia Brown had unearthed a secret that humanity must not know, and now her family must pay its dues... *** An ONC 2026 entry

Not all corpses are as dead as they seem. Ivy knows she found her ex-boyfriend, Kayson, in a pool of his own blood within Hollowmyre: her uncle's historic village. The issue? No one believes her, because Kayson's body is nowhere to be found. Until he shows up in her bedroom with fangs, a bloodthirsty new appetite, and no memory of his transformation into something less than human. All he knows is it had something to do with Hollowmyre Village, a hotspot destination for vacationing families... and a site where bodies have piled up for weeks. Not all of them have been found. Together, Ivy and Kayson must reluctantly team up to find the creature who turned him before the entire village falls prey. __________ MAIN ONC PROMPT: 90. You receive a voicemail from someone you love, recorded one hour after their confirmed death. __________ ©️2026 Wrenna Stone "Hollowmyre" is posted exclusively on W a t t p a d . c o m. If you are reading this novel on another platform or website, please inform the author via W a t t p a d, as you may be reading it from a mirror site or any other platform where it has been plagiarized.

Mari thought that coming home to a ghost town was bad. It turns out it's worse having to attend her estranged father's wedding and letting her childhood best friend break down the walls she carefully built. ***** Mari Chasey's life is suspended. She returns to her hometown in a cold November day following her mother's death, after years of studying abroad in Europe. Pinewood is sleepy in the bitter cold, the deserted shoreline stretching further than she can reach, but that's okay. Mari is good with temporary things and at not lingering. She's not planning to stay for long, just enough to sort out her mother's affairs without poking at open wounds. Then her father returns. Jack Chasey, former renowned superstar, absent for most of her childhood, is getting married to a woman Mari hardly knows. He gets to begin again, build something new, while Mari grapples with a fractured life and all the scattered pieces of herself. Her mother was supposed to live forever; Jack was mercurial and always at arm's length. But now he's here to stay. Enter Kinney St. James. Once Mari's closest friend, then another person that passed by like a comet, she still knows Mari and all the shards of her. Even the sharper ones. In the stillness of winter, Mari reconnects with the quiet life Jack always wanted for her, the softer parts of her that only Kinney can tap into, and what it truly means to be her mother's daughter. ***** Open Novella Contest -- prompts 24, 29, 46, & 77 © 2026 caterina george // all rights reserved

There's murder on the streets of Cresenth. Darcy is planning to add to it before skipping town. Still on the hunt for The Radiant Hand, she and Kasi have their first real clue within reach. Everything goes wrong when Darcy's biggest lead is killed by Farren and Cahir, a pair of assassins on their own not so divine mission. Enemies inevitably become unlikely allies when a kidnapping grinds everyone's plans to a stop. Without the cooperation of both sides, The Radiant Hand's discord will run unchecked across the continent.

The woods surrounding Crenshaw are haunted by the secret between life and death---a monster known only as the Reaper. For centuries, Crenshaw's Institute for the Dark and Gifted has had one rule that its students are never meant to break: stay out of the woods, or face the Reaper's wrath. Faceless and formless, the Reaper feeds off the blood of those unfortunate enough to wander into the forest, but never touches those who obey the golden rule. That is, until a body is found in the library, drained entirely of blood. With the school halls no longer safe from the Reaper's bloodlust, four gifted students are forced to team up to uncover what the Reaper truly is---and more importantly, how to get rid of it. (Prompt 16: "And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.")

Whether it's your first time or your seventh time, writing a novella in 12 weeks isn't easy. As a 2021 ONC Winner and two-time Honorable Mention (2023/2024), I totally understand. After years of participation and reflection, I have lots of advice to share on how I wrote a winning novella and look forward to writing every year. Inside this guide, you can find everything from insider tips to craft chats to contest commentary. So grab a cup, get your notebook, and settle in: it's time to start writing! Copyright © 2022 Elle Chaika

When a mage is found dead, and, at a rough measurement, at least a head shorter, the only clue to his fate lies in the key gripped in his hand. A very magical key that sets the leaders in the Guild of Mages, Prestidigitators, Illusionists and General Wielders of Magic (not including Witches) in a bit of a quandary, because none of them want to touch it. Thus, the investigation is left in the thoroughly incapable hands of the three mages in the highly dangerous, very almost deadly on a daily basis, Thaumatological Gubbins Department of the Guild. Accompanied by a young(ish, these are mages after all) member of the Guild tasked with recording the progress of the investigation, the three mages set out on a perilous journey that will involve several belligerent doors, a three cart race, and, probably, a number of people wondering what the Hel is going on and why one of the mages continues to shout 'Power!' at every opportunity. An ONC novella like no other.

When one morning, Zabava finds a wounded man in her garden, there is no doubt she ought to help him. But the more she gets to know about him, the clearer it seems that destiny had delivered a gruesome strike with this stranger. For her unexpected guest is Zmey, the dragon haunting the country of Skazoviya with his endless appetite for the hearts of girls. Everyone knows how this would have to end in the tales-a powerful witch in the woods, a terrible dragon, a dashing hero. But this is no tale. Zabava is no witch. The brave bogatyr has failed to kill his enemy. And the dragon doesn't seem to be quite the kind of monster the rumors make him out to be. Soon enough, he spins Zabava a tale of woe about his innocence and traps her in a bargain to rescue him. Caught between plans to trick this beast and the chains of their pact, she slowly starts to believe Zmey's story ... but what if the tales are true and what's at stake is her very heart?