Onc2021 Stories

[Shortlist | Ambassadors Pick] Alicia DuMont is telling the truth. Unless you count lies of omission, which she decidedly does not. Twenty-four and finally standing on her own two feet as a hairstylist, she is surprised when she and her friends receive an invitation to the prince's Coming-of-Age Masked Ball. Knowing they are right out of the running for marriage to the prince won't stop them from having a little fun, though! Prince Alejandro has a truth he can't share: his country is weaker than it seems. At nearly twenty-one, his dream of marrying for love is tied up in somehow falling for a down-to-earth woman who can strengthen the monarchy. Hoping his Coming-of-Age Ball will throw such a girl into his path, he's determined to make the most of it. And when he meets the mysterious Alicia, he is immediately drawn to her. When Alicia and Alejandro decide to begin a relationship, royal conventions throw them straight into an engagement. They may be the epitome of poise and grace in public, but behind the scenes questions of Alicia's suitability mix with the threat of national unrest. Every day their connection grows deeper, but if they can't find a way to quiet the growing discontent, they risk losing not only their relationship but also their country. *** This story was written for the ONC 2021 based on prompt #87.

(ONC 2021 Shortlisted) Lenny Legend works for the Intergalactic Government's Anti-Vigilante Agency. He's the best in the business, but he may have bitten off more than he could chew when he gets mixed up with the notorious and certifiably insane Captain Marmalade and his crew of misfits. *** ONC 2021: Prompt #6 "Your job is to track down vigilantes and infiltrate their groups, with the aim of gathering information and turning them into the authorities. You're successful at your job, until one day, a group of vigilantes changes everything."

➵ With his days anything but numbered, Legolas finds himself the keeper of far too much time. ➵ As his dear friend Aragorn has passed at the age of 210 and all reason to remain in his kingdom has followed, the immortal elf ventures away from his lands, trying to understand what it means to die and if it is good that he will presumably never do it. ➵ His soul confused and his quiver always feeling a little emptier, Legolas begins to question what truly has worth and meaning as he sails with the dwarf Gimli and a hitchhiking cat westward to Aman. - Written for the Open Novella Contest, taking from fantasy prompt number twenty-three: "Under the blue moonlight, the elves come out. For a transient moment, let there be peace and harmony."

Claire, Georgia, and Danny aren't your average ghost hunters. Their hit livestream channel "Creep It Real" rakes in thousands of viewers each time they go live. But what their fans don't know is that the trio fake the hauntings they come across at each location. And their next haunt is supposed to be no exception. While streaming at Grimwood Manor, the "haunted" estate their top donor suggested they visit, they begin to experience strange things. Things they never experienced before. Things that aren't natural, and that will undermine everything they thought they believed. The trio comes face-to-face with real ghosts for the first time, but these aren't regular ghosts. They're something vicious, and they aren't willing to let go. Not until all of their victims' hope is drained and gone. Claire and her friends will have to fight to get back what they had, even if they have to face their pasts and worst fears in the process. *Open Novella Contest IV Shortlister and Ambassador Pick! Copyright © 2021, Heather Dianne Cover and other graphics made by me

Aura awakens in The Sanctuary, a place known for repairing and rewiring humans. Nothing is known about their methods other than it works and those who enter leave happier. Except Aura doesn't remember signing up for their treatment plans. In fact, she doesn't remember anything at all. With her identity ripped away from her, she's filled with more questions than she can get answers for, and the worst part is that she can't leave either. When her memories begin to resurface, she starts to wish that they hadn't. - Featured On: @OpenNovellaContest - 2021 Honorable Mentions @ScienceFiction - Dystopian/Apocalyptic Fiction @PsychologicalNovel - Lost Souls @StoriesUndiscovered - Into the Abyss

2021 Leighyeann A. Mies All rights reserved An entry for the Open Novella Contest Book #1 of the Face saga Movie poster by @deathinreverie Playlist by @YuriAppl3 [COMPLETED ON 7/7/2021] *** Sim Daejung is the mastermind of the so-called "Face" project, where he forces the people around him to face each other to get them spill the most grueling secrets and possibly start trusting him. Easy, right? Well, maybe it's time to redefine the concept of "easy". Many people are already questioning his motives, as well as each other, for a number of reasons they don't want to disclose. Others just call him out as a "fraud" because he happens to know something about them that could put them into a compromising position. Either way, everyone should brace themselves for the adventure of a lifetime, or for a nightmare that's about to come true...

Lola Castaneda never imagined herself managing the boys baseball team. She never imagined finding a family in those boys. And she never imagined herself falling for the wrong boy. Lola's day started off as normal as one should be: being stalked by her best friend's sister. As far as Lola was concerned, that was pretty normal. What she wasn't expecting, though, was to be approached by Taylor Harris, the definition of everything right in the world. She knew him because of her best friend, Sophie Jones. Since Sophie was the manager for the boys baseball team, Lola knew most of the baseball boys. It still surprised her that Taylor would talk to her, inviting her to the baseball group chat that included Sophie. It surprised her even more when her own sister asked her to fill in the vacant managers spot. Lola wanted to say no. Everything in her being told her to say no. She just didn't know why she said yes. Now her days were filled with watching the boys practice and fetching their gear, which was a little demeaning. She went along with it anyway since it would be a great addition for scholarships related to baseball. While being the manager, she befriended the worst player on the team -- Noah Dawson. He was always getting made fun of behind his back, so she decided to cheer him up by baking some cookies. That resulted in her almost killing him because she put peanuts in them. She thought he would hate her forever, but they became best friends after that incident. In such a short time, these boys became her family. And then the unimaginable happened: Lola was denounced from the managers spot. After that, everything fell apart. Until the home run kiss.

[ONC ROUND I AMBASSADOR PICKS] "You can't burn all of the witches, dear child. Where one falls, another drinks her blood and rises." A sellsword discovers that perhaps, just perhaps, maybe the humanity she is trying to save doesn't have much humanity after all. © irya kadlec, 2021

My first marriage was a mistake, therefore, divorce wasn't a surprise. My second marriage, with the same man?...Well, that was twice wrong. #OpenNovellaContest

What should have been a simple task for a trio of ghost hunters quickly becomes something for which the term 'Worst Case Scenario' is the mother of all understatements.

ONC2021 entry. With all her memories since she turned eighteen gone, Joanna Collins has no idea who she is. Life becomes even more complicated when a mysterious text message arrives on her phone. Why is someone calling her Agent 23? And what is it supposed to mean that she has been "activated"? Add in the handsome man who won't stop following her around, convinced that she is Agent 23, and Joanna becomes more determined to discover what exactly it is that she has forgotten. But why is her "partner" telling her she chose it? And how are they supposed to survive their mission if she can't remember what they are supposed to be doing? This is not going to be fun. Prompt: You get a mysterious message on your phone stating 'Agent 23, you have been activated'. You guess it is a bad time to have amnesia.

Orphaned in the middle of a war, Jeremy is sent to his grandmother's estate in the safer countryside. His fresh start includes a beautiful servant, made more alluring by her refusal to fit into society. When forces beyond their control threaten to tear them apart, can they survive it? Or will they be torn apart forever? --- Word Count: ~20,000 WARNING: Major character death The 2021 prompts #45 and #74 were used in the making of this novella. It was written for the ONC 2021.

When a simple job goes horribly awry, ghosthunter Anya must prove she has what it takes to do spirit work or risk losing her job, her brother, and a second chance with the One Who Got Away. *** Second-rate ghosthunter Anya Iteri comes from a family of metalweavers -- powerful mages who can forge iron, shape steel, and even bend blood. Down on her luck and struggling for work, Anya bribes her little brother, a city guide, to let her drum up business on one of his tours. The plan is simple. Summon a hibernating ghost to give the tour a good show, return it to its slumber, and collect a hefty tip. But the moment the tour begins, Anya encounters a ghost of a different kind: Eleira Soti, talented hunter and former love of her life, newly returned to the city after years away. El's familiar face leaves Anya fighting distraction and attraction alike on her way into the city's most haunted grounds. The night goes from bad to worse when the wrong ghost gets summoned and fingers are pointed Anya's way. A malignant spirit emerges from the veil, bent on destroying the tour and everyone on it. Racing against time, Anya must team up with El to trap the ghost, save her brother, and prove, once and for all, that her abilities aren't as second-rate as others think. *** Silverweaver is now available across all major platforms. Once titled just "Weaver," it won an honorable mention in the 2021 Open Novella Contest.

A devastating fire sends seventeen-year-old Harrison Fredrick across the Atlantic Ocean to the English countryside to live with the grandmother he never knew. As if coming to terms with his newly discovered title and learning how to fit in with the nobility wasn't enough, he soon learns he's engaged--also without his knowledge--to a woman who's not the servant he's falling in love with. Then when his most guarded and dangerous secret comes to light, everything changes--and it could lead to either his salvation or his destruction. ONC 2021 - Prompt #74

This is an official entry for ONC 2021. I have used prompt #13 This is story about Alex who finds an old dusty Manuscript in his new apartment that tells him a story about Mr. Scott who probably saved the world by stopping the Doomsday 150 years from now. Though Alex and his friends think its fiction the reality that unfolds after he puts the manuscript down is a bit more jarring than he ever thought it could be. Armed with few pages of Manuscript, an old dusty gauntlet and Michael's watch, they step out to stop the possible doomsday and save life on one mysterious Michael Scott in Future Present and Past.

[ON JANUARY 8TH 2024, UNDER CONSTRUCTION FOR EDITS] ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ 🌟 Open Novella Contest 2021 ➤ Prompt #29: ❝I am in the mood to dissolve in the sky.❞ - Virginia Woolf ➤ Round One, Two, Longlist, and Shortlist Qualifier ✨ ➤ Honorable Mention | All The Feels 💕 💫 Round One First Place Winner 2021 ◇ @WattpadSocialMedia | DM Me | Teen and NA reading list ◇ May 21, 2021 ◇ @OpenNovellaContest | 2021 Round Winners ◇ March 25, 2021 ◇ @OpenNovellaContest | Longlist Part 2 ◇ May 27, 2021 ◇ @OpenNovellaContest | 2021 Honorable Mentions | All the Feels ◇ June 30, 2021 ◇ @WattpadShortStory | Strugglers ◇ June 30, 2021 ◇ @generalfiction | Freestyle Fiction | Miscellaneous ◇ September 8, 2021 ◇ @ProfileMentalHealth | A New Day ◇ September 30, 2021 ◇ Contemporary Romantics Award: #RomanticsAwards2022: Shortlist ◇ March 15, 2022 ◇ Contemporary Romantics Award: #RomanticsAwards2022: Finale #1 in #bu

Lucius was raised to be great. An omen that coincided with his birth marked him as the one to end a reign of terror over the people of Fure. He was always destined to be a hero. But heroes aren't born. They're forged. On witnessing the brutal murder of a family member, Lucius swears to right the wrong done that day, and prevent the murderers from walking away unharmed as they have done so many times before. And so begins his journey as his destiny contends with his will, for his desire for revenge collides with the hero's path laid out for him. Lucius wants to avenge his family, no matter the consequences. And in a world where the gods seem dead, there is nothing to stop him. Entry in the Open Novella Contest 2021, prompts 1 and 20. Round Three Longlist

It was supposed to be simple prank, one that would not lead to any problems in the life of Princess Nhyira of Diamantí. What happens when an unexpected incident occurs at her coming of age ball? Will Princess Nhyira find a way to save the day or would she get in trouble? Read to find out. Read on to find out. PS: The name is pronounced [ in- shi- ra]

Ava, also known as the Death was sent to roam the human world for a week every hundred years. Her job was easy-- hunt souls to send them off. However, this time when she was sent back to do her job, she found herself trapped in this world because of the system error that had occur during her time of duty a hundred years ago.

Caleb's list of job responsibilities did not include saving his city from a drought. He was as far from the hero type as he could be, starting with muscles and ending with courage. When the ghost hunting club he had joined theorized their plight was due to the paranormal, he went along with it to appease them. No one could predict what he would find on the lakebed, or the path he would have to take to bring water back to the city. --- Word Count: ~20,000 The 2021 prompts #5 and #64 were used in the making of this novella. It was written for the ONC 2021.