Idiocy and policy

At seventeen, Chloe is finally invited into the formal gatherings that mark a young shifter's place in society. As a lower-rank wolf, she's learned it's safer to be overlooked. So when a sharp-eyed stranger starts noticing her, she tells herself it means nothing. Only a glance. Only a dance. Until it isn't. Because in a world where rank is everything, the most dangerous question isn't about tradition - it's whether she deserves more than the place she was given.

ONC 2026 entry, prompt 5. Every day at the exact same time your cat slips out of your home. One afternoon, curiosity gets the better of you, and you follow, only to discover it's living a secret life you never imagined. My take, cats save the world as a backdrop to a romcom.

Anna is the kind of girl people look straight through. At school, on the bus, at home - she exists quietly in the background, where asking for anything comes with a price she learned long ago to stop paying. Even with her best friend, Alice, she never fully steps into the world. She just survives it, carefully and without being noticed. Her life was supposed to stay bland, colourless, manageable. Nothing was supposed to change that. Then she runs into Sophie. And something shifts - not all at once, and not enough to understand, but just enough that it doesn't stop. Anna finds herself pulled toward something she can't name, something her body recognises before her mind can catch up. And the worst part is, she doesn't want it to stop.

She wakes with missing hours, a burning imprint carved into her shoulder, and no memory of who put it there. Nyxara Blackvein is an assassin who survives by control. Control over her body. Her blades. Her choices. But the mark beneath her skin has a will of its own, pulling her toward Stillreach-a city protected by an impossible shield and a power no one dares to name. Torin Cross was never part of the plan. A half-elf bard with a charming smile and secrets of his own, he's headed in the same direction for reasons that don't quite add up. When violence forces them to fight side by side, trust forms before either of them is ready for it. Whatever waits in Stillreach is already watching. ONC 2026 Prompts used. 32. Two assassins from rival organizations are sent on the same secret mission, only to realize the assignment holds a much bigger truth. 86. A wasteland hides pockets of thriving communities protected by mysterious shields. 99. You wake up with a strange mark on your skin after a late-night encounter you can barely remember, and its meaning grows more unsettling by the hour.

ONC 2026 In a world woven with secrets, silence can be deafening. Eighteen-year-old Luca Kant has never known the sound of her own voice; born deaf and raised under the suffocating grip of her controlling father, she is haunted by the shadow of her mother's mysterious disappearance. Did she flee from the clutches of a man who could be a monster, or did something more sinister happen? Nineteen-year-old Boy Harrison lives at the wrecking yard. He can speak, but hasn't spoken since he was four. He is haunted by nightmares that echo a woman's voice warning him that to remain safe, he must remain silent. Fate draws Luca and Boy together. Long-buried memories and cryptic connections between their lives begin to unravel. As they delve deeper into their entwined pasts, eerie parallels unfold-did Luca's father play a role in the dark mystery surrounding her mother's fate? Does he hold the key to both their truths? How is Boy connected, and who is the woman he dreams of? In a gripping tale of identity, resilience, and the haunting weight of silence, Luca and Boy must confront their monsters and uncover the chilling revelations that bind them on a riveting journey where silence speaks volumes and whispers could change the course of their lives. PROMPT 80 - Monsters don't live under our beds. They live in the recesses of our minds. (Variation of Edgar Allen Poe's famous quote.) My interpretation - Monsters didn't live under your bed. They sat at your table.

Seventeen-year-old Aemilia, an orphan raised at a secretive Scottish academy, becomes obsessed with an ancient arch hidden in the nearby woods. When she deciphers its forgotten inscription, it opens a portal to a magical medieval kingdom. There she meets Brian, a young prince she cannot forget. Back home, the young man she had been enamoured of for years, Francis, finally returns her affection-but Aemilia's heart is divided between two worlds. As she continues crossing the portal, Brian's hidden destiny awakens: he is a dragon shifter whose power threatens both realms. When he is declared an enemy, Aemilia must choose-destroy the dragon to save her world, or protect the boy she loves. My entry for the ONC 2026.

A journey to discovering who we truly are.

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!

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