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

Delilah Daine is the most ordinary girl in existence. At least that's what she wants everyone to believe desperately. After spending years in a residential treatment center as a pre-teen, she wants to be normal and fit neatly into the popular mold society creates for girls her age. She has a social media account, so she isn't considered too closed off, but she only posts nature photos and shares cute animal videos. She works as a librarian surrounded by people every day, but after work, she prefers to stay home and be alone. Her carefully curated existence shatters when she receives a letter from someone every doctor insisted never existed - a person who was supposed to be nothing more than a figment of her childhood imagination. Nathaniel Fitzpatrick knows he must leave Europe, especially after spending years caged in a delusional scientist's basement as a test subject. Only one thing keeps him from boarding the ship to America and disappearing for at least a decade - Delilah. A talkative little girl who once showed him he shouldn't spend the rest of eternity hidden in dark caves, only coming out for food. He decided weeks ago it would be best to write her a thank-you note before his departure and forget about her, the way he assumes she forgot about him. But now that it's time to board, he realizes a simple letter isn't enough. He needs to know if she's even alive and what kind of person she has grown into during the years he was imprisoned. People change, and he has to find out whether the only good person he has ever met managed to retain her kindness and compassion - or if she lost that battle the moment she grew up, the way most humans usually do.

In a ghost town where cornfields outnumber people, Lieutenant Gianna Park arrests the new guy, Nicolae Badea, for biting her on her first date. When bodies begin to surface-young men found mummified, bitten, and strangled-Gianna suspects the man she once handcuffed. Yet, the evidence refuses to align. The wounds are wrong. The hunger is deliberate. Eighteen years ago, a boy was killed and forgotten. Now the dead are coming back the same way. As Gianna uncovers a hidden world of vampires who police their own kind, she learns that monsters are not defined by blood but by what they choose to feed on. Nicolae Badea claims it was not desire on his part, but restraint. He survives by restraint, faith, and silence. The killer survives by power. Only one of them hunts humans. The Coffin of Nicolae is a gothic crime novel about addiction, romance, and the violence we excuse when it wears a human face-asking what justice means when the law has no language for the truth. And what waits inside Nicolae's coffin. *** Content Warning: This novel includes strong, explicit language and depictions of violence, sexual scenes that some readers may find offensive.

❝𝑩𝒖𝒕, 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅'𝒔 𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒐... 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆, 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍?❞ Professor Hans Dominique is London International University's newest professor-disciplined, calm, and impossible to read. Obsessed with meeting the mysterious founder, he studies her patterns and influence, blinding him from someone else's motives.. When a withdrawn student leaves behind a notebook filled with unsolved, real cases, Hans finds stories that are far more than fiction. The final story points to the founder as a mastermind, and the supposed victim... is him. With the last pages blank, Hans must confront a possibility he cannot control. After all... he's not himself when he's hungry. - For the Open Novella Contest 2026 Used prompts: 78 & 109 UNEDITED | FIRST DRAFT First part posted on Wattpad: 02 | 24 | 26 First chapter posted on Wattpad: 02 | 28 | 26 Last chapter posted on Wattpad: 04 | - | 26 Wordcount per chapter: ~2500 Overall word count: ~ starisredy © All rights reserved Only on W a t t p a d .

Dragons. Fae. Love. Deception. The perfect recipe for disaster. Yvana Warnock, rebellion leader and ex-dragon rider, is tasked with protecting her Kingdom, and dragon-kind against the cunning, and ruthless Fae. When Fae Prince Aurelion Koraltior Meldrum is captured by her squad, he offers Yvana information she cannot ignore. Determined to win the war, she accepts his dangerous bargain, risking not only her life and kingdom, but possibly the entire of continent of Xamarath itself. But nothing is as it seems. When Aurelion makes an impossible bond with a dragon, Yvana is forced to teach him the ways of dragon riders, and pray to all the powers that he will fight against his own kind. Should he refuse, then her only choice left is striking a new bargain: her freedom for his absolute loyalty. －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－ ᴏɴᴄ 2026 | ᴍᴀɪɴ - ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴇʀ | ᴘʀᴏᴍᴘᴛ 45: "ᴋɪɴɢꜱ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʜᴏɴᴏᴜʀ, ꜱᴏʟᴅɪᴇʀꜱ ᴀʀᴇ ʙʀᴀᴠᴇ, ᴘᴏᴇᴛꜱ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴀʟʟ ɪ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ɪꜱ ʀᴀɢᴇ!" - ꜱᴏᴜɴᴅ ʙʏ ɴᴀᴇᴛʜᴀɴ ᴀᴘᴏʟʟᴏ. ꜱᴇᴄᴏɴᴅᴀʀʏ - ꜰᴀʟʟ | ᴘʀᴏᴍᴘᴛ 78: ʏᴏᴜ ʙᴇɢɪɴ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀʟɪꜱᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ɪꜱ Qᴜɪᴛᴇ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪᴛ ꜱᴇᴇᴍꜱ. －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－ Cover by Meiferyms!!! ♥

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.

|ONC PROMPT 78 "You begin to realize that nothing is quite what it seems."| In the hidden chambers of an ancient elven court, every decision is a matter of life, law, and secrecy. Alliances are forged in shadow, and even the smallest disruption can ripple into catastrophe. For the elves, maintaining order is more than duty-it is survival. Two council members, the steadfast High Justicar Cirmon Shadowbane and the perceptive clerk Belvedere, stand at the heart of this fragile balance. As threats emerge and secrets surface, they are forced to confront the limits of their authority, the weight of their choices, and the consequences of silence. In a world where magic, morality, and power collide, no law can predict every outcome, and no justice comes without cost. Cover designed by @raizelrose3

An entry-level cartographer, Liadan is the least interesting, least important member of the Nautical Guild. Well, that's what she needs everyone to believe. When a warning at sea forces Liadan to flee the Island of Tirisea, she must choose if she returns to safety or trusts a stranger who promises her the impossible: a life where she is free from a duty that was inflicted on her at birth. No matter what, she must not let the mist find her, nor allow the key to fall into malevolent hands. One wrong move, and the world will crumble. Cover by @raizelrose3 ONC 2026 Prompts: 7. One morning, the ocean washes up a message. One you've been waiting your entire life to hear. 62. They say every door has its own key. Except for one, a key said to open them all. 79. A letter arrives addressed to you, written by someone who shouldn't exist.

A secret uprising hinges on a prophecy that can only be fulfilled if a wizard wins the favor of a princess-and Caen of Piddler's Grove is determined to be that wizard. But when his ambition leads him to choose the wrong familiar in his quest to woo Princess Ori of the Sun Throne, he sets in motion a mistake that will forever change the kingdom of Sporque.

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.