[ONC2026] | [Longlist] Life isn't fair, and some have accepted that. I haven't. Some seem to be in charge, while others can never stand up for themselves. That can also be done differently. The hierarchy is cracking, more and more with each passing day. Vaméa and Roche live in the same world, yet their position couldn't be further apart. One is a predator, the other prey. Both carry a hidden agenda when fate forces them together. It is time to break the system before it breaks them. According to prompt 45. Kings have honor, soldiers are brave, poets have hearts, and all I have is rage!

Finn went in expecting an easy jailbreak. Now he's escaping feds, fighting mafia bikers, facing past demons and trying to figure out why the girl with the gum-bomb doesn't return his side-glance. *** Mercenary Finn Spayne's young accomplice King had one job. Crack the code of his cuffs and he strolls out of prison. But the kid ends up sabotaging the whole system. Finn finds himself in a war zone alongside a runaway mafia princess, a ruthless assassin, a goofy heist master and an old friend. Together, they must hatch an escape plan out of Neon City and to safety. But it gets even more dangerous when feelings start to develop. Because in a world where humans are reduced to their utility, feeling is the worst crime. *** CONTENT WARNING: Rated 18+ for graphic violence, strong language and heavy themes.

{2026 Open Novella Contest Longlist} {Ranked 1 in #bandmembers (5/1-7/3)} {Ranked 1 in #songwriting (4/22-6/30)} {Ranked 1 in #drummer (5/1-6/30)} {Ranked 2 in #opennovellacontest (5/5-5/15)} {Ranked 2 in #guitar (5/12-6/30)} {Ranked 3 in #onc2026 (6/11-6/15)} {Ranked 6 in #nostalgia (6/11-6/15)} {Ranked 6 in #pining (6/28-6/30)} {Ranked 8 in #romance-friendship (6/11-6/30} {Ranked 9 in #selfdiscovery (6/11-6/30)} "𝘔𝘴. 𝘔𝘪𝘴𝘴" 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳-𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 - 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭, 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰. Althea has always considered herself unlucky in love. What she never realized was that love had been circling her for years, just slightly out of step. On her thirtieth birthday, the four-man band who shaped her youth arrive late (as always). One confession breaks the careful silence they've kept for years, forcing the past into the present and cracking open a decade of almosts. They chose friendship because it was safer. They stayed professional because it was necessary. And sometimes... life, simply and tragically, got in the way.

#ONC2026 | 🏆 Round 3 Winner | 🏅 Round 1 & 3 Ambassador Pick | Speaking to the dead is permitted, but raising the dead is forbidden. After discovering an unlikely copy of The Necrotic Guide, budding necromancer Emelie is both delighted and disgusted by the powers the book promises. Will it be enough to speak to her lost love again?

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.

ONC2026 Long Listed! A forgotten amulet. A whisper of fate. A princess it commands, but at what cost? Maela, princess of the Seelie Court, can't sit through court affairs to save her life. To avoid another royal meeting, she takes a new path through the forest, stumbling upon ancient ruins. The secret within their shattered walls sets her on a path she must find the answer to--before it's too late. Main prompt: ~ 93. Buried beneath the ruins lies an artifact that whispers memories of an ancient being. The first memory it reveals is a warning and it's meant for you. Sub prompts: ~ 16. =And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul= Quote by John Muir ~ 11. The daughter of the most powerful witch(changed to Fae) is nothing like her mother. ~ 104. While wandering in the woods, you dismiss the rustling behind you as nothing more that wind through the trees until you turn around and realize it isn't the wind at all.

AMBASSADORS' PICK FOR ROUND ONE, ONC 2026 ⭐ Before France burned and crowns fell, it once starved to live. Before he was a king, he was a boy who once feared the silence. Before she was a revolutionary, she was a girl who once believed in love. Years before his marriage to Marie Antoinette, before alliances forged him into the King the world will remember, Louis was only a quiet prince who found comfort in the laughter of a printer's daughter from the Third Estate. Camille was never meant to stand beside a monarch. She never asked to love a prince. She asked for bread. For justice. For a France that did not bleed its poorest dry. But when a prophecy, whispered in the still halls of Versailles, follows Louis into manhood, "He will love two women. One will save his life. The other will destroy it." The trouble is, love does not wear a name. As France trembles beneath famine, debt, and rising fury, the prince becomes king. The king becomes a symbol. And the girl he once loved becomes something far more dangerous than memory. Revolution has many faces. Sometimes, it looks like the woman you once promised forever. Kings have honour. Soldiers are brave. Poets have hearts. And all Camille has left... is rage. As history sharpens its blade and the guillotine waits for its final applause, Louis must decide which love was his salvation, and which was his ruin. Because in a country built on hierarchy and hunger, loving the wrong person does not merely break a heart. It breaks a crown.

Clara Morel arrives at a fashionable Riviera resort after a most determined journey, fully prepared to prevent a wedding she considers both foolish and ill-advised. Unfortunately, she arrives a day too late. The ceremony has already taken place with admirable efficiency. What remains is a nearly empty hotel, a quantity of unused champagne, and a handful of guests whose politeness seems somewhat strained. Each of them appears to have a private grievance, an awkward history, or an inconvenient secret. Clara soon discovers that while she may have missed the wedding, she has arrived in perfect time for something else entirely. After all, in a place where everyone has a reason to resent someone, it rarely takes much for resentment to become murder.

When Brie lands a spot on Cheese Whiz, a cheese-themed cooking competition, the last thing she expects is to run into Colby Jackson, the man who left her heart with more holes than Swiss cheese. ~~~ It was supposed to be simple. Enter the contest, win the prize money, open her own restaurant. Easy peasy, extra cheesy. So of course Colby freaking Jackson and his smug, entirely too sexy face just had to come back into Brie's life like an extra stinky wheel of limburger cheese. Surrounded by fierce competitors and legendary amounts of dairy, Brie and Colby exchange barbs sharper than any cheddar. Yet, as the competition heats up, Brie quickly discovers the mozzarella isn't the only thing melting. Against her better judgment, Colby is once again worming his way into her heart. Will Brie find a whey to make things work between them, or will he leave her feeling bleu? 🧀 Rivals to lovers 🧀 Second chance romance 🧀 All puns are fully intended Using prompts 29 and 89 for ONC 2026! Cover by @-DeeIsDead-