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!

Daisy Marie "Dee" Del Buono and Luca "Kai" Romano have lived next door to each other their whole lives-but they've never lived in the same world. At school, Kai is untouchable: the star of the track, the golden boy everyone talks about, the name everyone knows by heart. He is the center of the stadium lights, loud and inevitable. Dee is a different kind of sound-the first-chair oboe who everyone hears but no one truly sees. She's the girl who lives in the static between band practice and her two best friends, hiding her 88-key heart behind a music stand and a wall of hoodies. And between them sits a lie they've both agreed to believe: They're not friends. Until one summer night, they cross a line they swore they'd never touch. When Dee's older brother, Arlo-Kai's best friend-leaves for college, everything shifts. The fence between their houses becomes a bridge. Late-night talks replace old arguments. They learn each other's secrets. They learn each other's smiles. Now it's senior year, and they're trying to pretend it didn't happen. Pretending they're fine. Pretending they can go back. Pretending the truth isn't pulsing every time they lock eyes across the hallway and across their bedroom windows. But the sweetest lies are the ones you tell to protect your heart- until the night they finally destroy it. "The Sweetest Lie" is a story about first love, quiet longing, and the moment when pretending isn't enough anymore. For fans of messy feelings, slow burns, and the kind of heartbreak you only survive once.

A Writers Help Writers book promotion :)

Lirien has found refuge on land, working as a professional mermaid at a cutting-edge aquarium. Her heart, however, is caught between two worlds. She finds solace in her job-and in the company of Dexter, a marine biologist whose passion for the ocean draws her in deeper than she's ever been before. But there's more to Lirien than meets the eye, and the longer she's on land, the more the pressure from her mermaid heritage pulls at her. Torn between love and duty, she struggles to hide the truth of her origins. The closer she grows to Dexter, the harder it becomes to conceal the truth-and the physical toll it takes on her body when she's away from the ocean only makes matters worse. A research opportunity arises for Dexter that holds the promise of discovery-and danger. The island, veiled in storms and rumors, is near the secret mermaid territory Lirien fled from. As Dexter's research project grows more enticing, Lirien finds herself torn between the man she's falling for and the ocean that calls her back. But the island may be more than they bargained for-its waters have a magnetic pull that Lirien cannot resist. And with the past threatening to catch up with her, her secret life may no longer stay hidden. What will she do when the very world she's been running from comes crashing into her future with Dexter? Her heart and her heritage will collide-will she choose love, or will she return to the dangerous depths she fled?