#1Nonfiction: Will Ceci be seduced by ax crimes, buried girls & mushy poems? Will she go down an entirely prudent and reasonable path or fall head-over-ass into a forbidden affair? Everything is real. Everything is true. The Authors: Ceci is a peach from Detroit, who directs documentaries, runs a video production house, and records and tours internationally as a drummer. Jack is a Colorado trial lawyer, who has appeared on Stephen Colbert, CBS 60 Minutes, ABC, NBC, FOX, Court TV, and media around the world. A Wattpad-Mysty interview of Ceci and Jack appears at the end of Part One. #1Nonfiction, #1True Crime, #1Non-fiction Spotlight, #1Criminal Law, #1True Story, and #1Memoir. 1st Place in Non-fiction, Rose Awards. A Wattpad Spotlight Featured Book, 2018-25. Gems of Wattpad, 2020-2025. Part One and Two are complete. Part Three is forthcoming. We receive a lot of requests, and if you read and vote for us, we will try our best to read and vote for you. We love comments!! Names, gender, dates, and locations have been changed to protect the innocent, the guilty, and to avoid as many lawsuits as possible. All photographs are owned by the authors or used with permission. Cover Photo by Rauchenberger, available royalty free on Pixabay. Copyright 2016, 2024.

After six years in a progressive French boarding school, eighteen-year-old Lady Alice returns to her family's estate in Surrey, dreading the fate that awaits her-- debutante balls, an arranged marriage, and a life she does not want. She would have preferred to stay in France, teaching and writing love tales rather than living one dictated by others. Once cast aside by her own father and a stepmother, Alice finds their sudden desire for reconciliation hollow. Only her childhood best friend, Michael, Marquess Lovelace, seems like a true comfort. But as she settles back into her former home, something strange begins to happen. A black rabbit, eerily familiar, appears in the shadows-- just like the one that belonged to Edmond, her long-forgotten imaginary friend. And then she meets Count D'Arcy, the enigmatic and elusive neighbour whose presence unsettles her. His eyes, his voice, his very being remind her of Edmond. Could it be him? Or is her mind playing tricks on her? As the social season unfolds, Alice finds herself tangled in a web of mystery, romance, and the supernatural. The past and present blur, forcing her to question what is real, what is illusion, and whether love can exist beyond the bounds of reason. In the haunting halls of her childhood home and under the watchful gaze of Count D'Arcy, Alice must uncover the truth before she loses herself to the unknown. ~~~ My entry for the ONC 2025 based on the prompt 105: Your childhood imaginary friend, who disappeared years ago, suddenly returns - only this time, they're real.

Through the scorched hills of Sicily, 1943, a soldier in Company M of the 1st Division, US Seventh Army, contracts malaria in Troina just as the Allies' strategies change and the war's tempo shifts. The Perfumed Letter traces the emotional and physical moments-where battle rages, illness halts movement, letters go unanswered, and a year of silence begins. This becomes the fundamental year of training for Operation Dragoon: a stretch of time suspended between fire and fog, void of letters home, where recovery becomes its own battlefield. Through archival fidelity and sovereign storytelling, Olan L. Smith maps the unseen war behind the war-the one fought in the body, the post, and the heart.

Remember how I always said I never wanted to host an award? Ever? Too much work, too much stress, count me out? Oops. It's true. I am hosting an award. No, I am not just doing it as an excuse to make people stickers, although there will be stickers. OH, YES, THERE WILL BE STICKERS. This contest is a celebration of all that is awesomely misfit on Wattpad. Are you in?

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!