Keywords: romance | haters to lovers | hollywood | mutual pining | murder mystery | time travel | inspired by a song You time-travel back to 2012, only to be cornered by a celebrity who insists you're "the key to saving their future," and they're determined to take you with them. "Because, you know, there's no end to the hypocrisy of the human heart." 🏅 Round 1 Winner | Open Novella Contest (2026) © 2026 EmmaJD The views and actions of the characters in this story do not reflect those of the author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Aira, a soft and funny girl, is broken by the people she trusted, loved, and genuinely cared for. Everyone expects her to crumble, but instead, she makes a powerful glow-up and an unforgettable comeback. A teen, funny, and relatable story about love, friendship, and finding yourself. Sometimes pain is the only way to find your true strength. This is my journey through heartbreak, hardship, and self-discovery, and how I became stronger than I ever imagined. "This Story is Participating in ONC 2026" Main prompt - #78 Other prompt - #28

Fall, 2022: On the Bayou of Southern Louisiana. Ozzy, a 14-year-old artistic honors student, is looking forward to starting high school and the talented theater program. But a whirlwind trip to the ER and an MRI reveals Ozzy has a brain tumor - and later, a pediatric cancer diagnosis - changes everything. During a year-long fight for a cure in the hospital, hope comes to Ozzy and their Mama through art, music and letters from friends, family and even strangers. There are so many that some remain unopened, collected in a box that goes home with Ozzy after they are discharged from the hospital a year later. The box sits in Mama's closet for over two years. Neither Ozzy nor Mama have opened the box as they struggle to return to "normal" life when "normal" is no longer possible. Until today, 2026: when what begins as spring cleaning turns into opening the box, reading its letters, and finding a mysterious adventure in one that neither Ozzy or Mama ever saw coming. And it just may be the adventure 17-year-old Ozzy and their Mama need to reveal the unexpected, ordinary magic that can help them heal, move forward- and live. ONC 2026 Prompts Used: #79 (Main) - Additional: #16, #28, #69, #104. Stacie Eirich @spacetodream

Adventure, friendship, explosive action (and diarrhea), this book has it all! Blending surreal comedy with soft, psychological sci‑fi, "Local NPC discovers dreams" feels like Inception meeting meme culture. The result? Dream travel gone wrong. Two strangers accidentally meet in a shared dream and get stuck there - one a sarcastic girl who never asked for a sidekick, the other a lost NPC-like guy who doesn't even know how he got here. Their differences in character aren't even the worse things they'll have to overcome... « Do you see it? - What? - There. Right behind that tree. He squinted at the green uniform mass of bushes. Nothing particularly shocking around them, except perhaps a bald head poorly hidden between two shrubs. Great, another bald head. But this one was probably trying to put them back in jail.» Welcome to the nightmare they never asked for. 🏅ONC2026 Round 2 Qualifier

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? _____ ONC 2026 ENTRY: PROMPTS 3, 4, 11

Spring always comes quietly. The first flower blooms in an ordinary garden, the kind that people walk by without a second glance. But this one is different. It opens a door. As the seasons shift, secrets begin to unravel-rivals tied together by an ancient weapon that stubbornly refuses to stir unless they stand together, a dragon feared by all but hunted unfairly, a god forgotten for so long who has begun to interfere once more. Worlds collide. Legends come alive. Magic seeps into the ordinary. Spring is not merely a season in this world. It observes. It recalls. It decides. Some are drawn through doors hidden behind flower petals. Some fall in love with people who feel peculiarly, inexplicably familiar. Some are asked to safeguard that which the world insists must be destroyed. And some discover that destiny is not about strength-it's about who you'll stand beside when the world starts to bloom. 🌸❀ 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐒 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 ❀🌸 is a tale of boundaries and gentleness, rivalry and loyalty, the subtle power of beginnings, and the things that stir when the world turns a new page. For once Spring learns your name, it never forgets. "And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul." ~John Muir

In 1897, Charlotte Moreau has been in an abusive marriage for years and the only solace she has is in the quiet moments when her husband and children are asleep. She often spends time by the lake and usually finds it a place of solace until one day when she receives a message in a bottle from her former best friend Marie who passed away. She encounters a friend of her acquaintance, Julien Deroche, a man she despises. She begins to argue with him, telling him to leave her alone. She begins to argue with him, telling him vicious things and to turn the other way when they cross paths. When she goes to the woods to find a new place to escape from her daily hell, she encounters Julien and must come to terms with what happened to Marie because Julien knows the truth. And because of their connection to Marie, she begins to soften toward him until she begins seeing him every day in this isolated place. But then Charlotte realizes that she has fallen desperately in love with him. And her husband begins to suspect something when she has dirt on her dress nearly every day. She must choose between her heart and her duty to her husband and children.

This space is created especially for writers participating in the Open Novella Contest 2026 Writing a novella is exciting... but also confusing, lonely, and full of self-doubt. ❤️ Is my story good enough? ❤️Is my opening strong? ❤️Will readers understand my characters? ❤️Am I even on the right track? You don't have to figure this out alone. This book club is a place where contestants can: ✔ Share their entries ✔ Get genuine reads ✔ Receive honest and helpful feedback ✔ Improve their chapters ✔ Support fellow writers Here, we don't compete. We grow together. If you are writing for the Open Novella Contest and want readers, reviews, and real feedback - this circle is for you. Let's help each other write better stories.