#ONC2026 |🏅Round 1 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?

For Centuries Grim has been collecting souls. It's what he does, it's his purpose. One day, while collecting a soul in the park, he comes across a lost puppy. For reasons he can't explain, the urge to return the small dog to his owner is overwhelming. He soon finds the animal's owner, a woman in her mid-twenties named Maria. He is struck down by her beauty and realizes that he had once claimed the soul of someone she loved. He becomes even more conflicted when he realizes he has just one year to claim her soul.

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!

Two years after Nathaniel Swift left for America to forget the woman he loved, he learns she's engaged to another man -- and returns to England to win her back. ***** Lord Nathaniel 'Nate' Swift is hopelessly in love with his best friend's younger sister, Charlotte Wilde. However, Nate's rakish ways, their ten-year age difference, and his best friend's objections soon make it very clear that a marriage could never take place. So Nate does the only thing he could: he travels to America and tries to forget about the woman he loves. But after two years in the New World, forgetting Charlotte proves to be impossible, and he's quickly pulled back to England after hearing of her engagement to another man. Determined to make up for past mistakes, Nate swears to stop the impending wedding and win back Charlotte's heart at any cost. But is he too late to show her the truth he's known all along -- that they're meant to be together, forever? [[Word count: 70,000-80,000 words]] Cover designed by Ashley Bandy

After a year spent healing at St. Francis Mental Hospital, Neillah must piece together the life she was forced to leave behind without getting caught. ⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆ When Neillah Thomas is released back into society she expects her family and friends to have moved on--not believe she's dead. Convinced it was for the best, her mother assures her temporary grief was better than long drawn hardship that could only end in pain, keeping her wellbeing a secret from everyone, but also single-handedly cutting off Neillah's entire support system. Sworn to secrecy, she attends college at her dream school only to find her former friend group in shambles. Between the cold stares, scathing retorts, and literal evasion, Neillah is shocked to find her first crush is a loner and that hot-headed best friend of hers? He seems to be staring in her direction a little too long. Clinging to her promise to remain out of sight, Neillah stubbornly fights for the closure they all deserve and answers she never got, no matter the cost. | An Open Novella Contest Entry | | Cover by the Amazing @Caralogues |

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.")

At some point, we all step into a forest without realizing it. For some, it is a season of doubt. For others, it is loneliness, responsibility, faith, identity, or the quiet weight of becoming who we are meant to be. This is not a story about perfection. It is a story about confusion. About growth. About losing certainty and discovering something deeper in its place. Inspired by the idea that sometimes we must lose our way to find ourselves, Brief Flames follows a journey through expectation, leadership, faith, rejection, and the quiet battles no one sees. Into the forest I went - not knowing I would leave different. Submitted for the Open Novella Contest 2026 Prompt 16 - "And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul." #ONC2026 #ONC16

[2022 Wattys Shortlist] [2023 Wattpad Editors' Choice] Previously "Wicked Lies" Melissa Hale, daughter of Senator Hale, was murdered. Christopher Williams, one of her classmates at NYU, is being framed for it. Isabela del Rey, a young lawyer working at one of the top law firms in New York, is determined to help him, even if it means having to solve the mystery herself. However, once she starts digging too deep, she finds herself playing cat-and-mouse with the real murderer. Add a complicated office romance, a dark past in Mexico that's starting to catch up with her, and another client who just killed his father and with whom she has some history, and you might get the perfect mess.

*Warning - Contains 18+ Content* +Completed+ He holds my face firmly between two hands. "Sienna, I'm not going to have you for the first time one of Maren's guest rooms when you're intoxicated." "You're not?" "No. It will be in my bed, and I'm going to take my time with you." His gaze falls to my lips. "Fuck Sienna, I'm going to take all night." *** Sienna has been in love with her Alpha since she could remember. He's rough, dangerous and the epitome of raw sex appeal. The problem is, he is her best friend, and strictly off limits. Tradition mandates he marry a woman of noble birth, and that is not her. She knows this is for the best, until she becomes his mistress, and things start to change. As she falls for her best friend, she must reconcile a deadly secret she has been keeping from him for years, that could change everything. Onyx has sacrificed everything to become Alpha. So, not marrying for love shouldn't be such an issue. His entire life he has denied his feelings for his best friend, until he is forced to take her as his mistress to grant her protection. With threats growing against them, and when his prospective wife candidates start showing up murdered, he make some difficult decisions. **Dual POV, friends-to-lovers, Alpha, mates, 18+**

It started on Wattpad but now is EVERYWHERE! With a bestselling book by WWBG, a captivating Webcomic on Webtoon, and a film adaptation by Wattpad WEBTOON studios, you can read, scroll, or watch - there's an experience for everyone to dive into Waverly and Blake's journey. ***** In order to fit in during her summer visit to a beachside town, Waverly must take swimming lessons from Blake, the moody (but gorgeous) lifeguard next door. ***** Seventeen-year-old Waverly Lyons is from Alaska. She doesn't do sun. But after her divorced parents can't agree on who gets to have her for the summer, Waverly gets shipped off to Holden, Florida, to spend a couple months with her aunt, Rachel. There's one minor hiccup: Blake Hamilton, Rachel's seventeen-year-old neighbor. He's athletic, outgoing, arrogant, tan, and pretty much Waverly's exact opposite. She's eager to avoid him at all costs, hoping to fit in with the other kids in Holden without drawing too much attention to herself. But when Blake discovers that Waverly has been hiding the rather embarrassing secret that she can't swim, he does the unthinkable: He offers to teach her. [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]