Onc2026 Stories

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!

Minnie Morgan has it all. A well earned bachelor's degree alongside a full ride to her MFA program, a boyfriend who she's deemed actually tolerable, and her hair finally decided to work with her and not against her. 2017, she's decided, is going to be her year. Then, she's pushed down a well. As if waking up in 2012 wasn't bad enough, a world famous boy band that claims they can see the future have their sights set on her - and more importantly, the promise that she's going to someday break their lead singer's heart, resulting in a song that will top the charts. With a scandal on their shoulders and Minnie unable to enact the future the well-pushing diverted her from, now is a better time than ever to wield that inevitable heartbreak. Until the reluctant Jackson falls in love with her and writes that hit song, she's stuck in the past. Too bad he can't stand her. ... Open Novella Contest, prompt #14

Tris McCoy is having an uneventful summer. It's the summer before eleventh grade, and it's the last summer she has before she has to start worrying about driving, and college, and a career. With her mom being in the hospital and her dad enjoying the title of father out in Australia, she's left to spend the next six weeks alone. Until she (literally) stumbles across a stack of old letters from her pen pal, July Souders. July lives in British Columbia---four provinces away---but Tris knows of a camp she used to attend. Unwilling to spend the summer alone and desperate for any change, no matter the size, Tris sets off for summer camp.

If you got anyone to describe Jessie Reynolds-Somber in one word, it would be 'lucky.' She survived childhood leukemia (twice), has the best friend-slash-roommate in the world, and she's studying something she loves at the university she's forever adored. But not even November can describe why she feels so incomplete, as though she's forgotten to do something she'll never get a chance to do. Why she feels like she's failed---no, worse, like she's a failure.

Spring arrives quietly.... soil rich with fertility, petals swaying and a garden that has never known wonder. Until one flower blooms where none should. When reaches for the first flower of spring, the world does not change all but It opens. A single touch pulls her into a place hidden between seasons a world where gardens guard secrets, portals breathe softly and magic has learned how to wait. What was once ordinary becomes dangerous and what blooms beautifully may burn just as fiercely.... because some flowers are not meant to be touched. Some doors do not open without consequence and some creatures long thought to be myths have been watching all along. In a story where spring is a threshold and the garden remembers everything, one choice will decide what is saved... and what is lost forever.

ONC 2026, Prompt 78: You begin to realize that nothing is quite what it seems ONGOING! Couture Magazine: the most prestigious fashion publication in the world, where hemlines are sacred, deadlines are deadly, and the coffee runs are... surprisingly literal. Every intern who walks through those gleaming Manhattan doors dreams of landing a full-time position-complete with vision, dental (including twice-yearly cleanings), and an endless supply of designer clothes fresh off the runway. Sure, the demands from editors, photographers, and even the notoriously temperamental writers can be exhausting. But an intern's day at Couture is pretty ordinary, right? WRONG. Alcide Lancaster is about to discover that his summer internship working for the iconic-yet-terrifying Ellen Montclaire comes with a few... unexpected job requirements. Like why he and a select few employees-including the formidable Editor-in-Chief herself-are the only ones taking mandatory two-hour lunch breaks. Why his thirty-to-fifty-something coworkers look suspiciously athletic, eerily youthful, and are borderline obsessed with eyewear that definitely isn't just a fashion statement. And why A-list celebrities who stop by the Couture offices seem less interested in the magazine's latest cover shoot and oddly fascinated with Alcide himself. But most importantly... What does any of this have to do with Alcide's late family, their disturbingly narrow worldview, and the real reason they wanted him out of their lives forever? All excellent questions for a young man trying to survive a summer packed with Fashion Week chaos, superpowered coworkers who treat the office like their personal runway, and a boss who's less Anna Wintour and more fierce-but-loving grandmother. Between navigating new friendships, an unexpected romance, and enough secrets to fill an entire September issue, Alcide is about to learn that in the world of high fashion... Not everything is just an illusion.

It's been ten years since Eimi's parents died and the police blamed her. Being released from prison is the day she's been dreading, because it means returning to the crime scene. On her first night back she goes out clubbing, for something to do, but she wakes up the next morning with no recollection of the night before, and a strange mark on her skin that she doesn't remember getting. When a dog walk ends up with her finding a message in a bottle, she is surprised to see the message is something she's wanted to hear for the last ten years. And a simple instruction; download the app Prophecy. Figuring it's just some kind of silly app, she goes on it. Not expecting her life to change so much. At the apps say so, she summons a demon and her life is thrust into chaos. Suddenly a black cat with one ear is turning up at her door and a soldier is telling her he needs her help. How far would you go to find your prophecy? And why on Earth can Rover suddenly talk?

Mari thought that coming home to a ghost town was bad. It turns out it's worse having to attend her estranged father's wedding and letting her childhood best friend break down the walls she carefully built. ***** Mari Chasey's life is suspended. She returns to her hometown in a cold November day following her mother's death, after years of studying abroad in Europe. Pinewood is sleepy in the bitter cold, the deserted shoreline stretching further than she can reach, but that's okay. Mari is good with temporary things and at not lingering. She's not planning to stay for long, just enough to sort out her mother's affairs without poking at open wounds. Then her father returns. Jack Chasey, former renowned superstar, absent for most of her childhood, is getting married to a woman Mari hardly knows. He gets to begin again, build something new, while Mari grapples with a fractured life and all the scattered pieces of herself. Her mother was supposed to live forever; Jack was mercurial and always at arm's length. But now he's here to stay. Enter Kinney St. James. Once Mari's closest friend, then another person that passed by like a comet, she still knows Mari and all the shards of her. Even the sharper ones. In the stillness of winter, Mari reconnects with the quiet life Jack always wanted for her, the softer parts of her that only Kinney can tap into, and what it truly means to be her mother's daughter. ***** Open Novella Contest -- prompts 24, 29, 46, & 77 © 2026 caterina george // all rights reserved

"I had never valued the backbone of my life... until I was forced to lose it..." "She was so beautiful that Death fell hopelessly in love with her and tried to tear her from my arms." Sunny Rose's world revolved around Suga; Suga's world revolved around music. Sunny was as sweet as honey, and Suga was as bitter as coffee. She was like a three-year-old child living in the body of a twenty-one-year-old girl, and he was like an eighty-year-old man trapped in the body of a twenty-eight-year-old. Sunny was as bright as her name promised, and Suga was like a gray cloud desecrating the true beauty of a blue sky. Who could ever believe in the combination of these two people? Do opposites really attract? Or is it nothing more than a saying with no truth behind it? Yet never forget that when a daring ray of light pierces through nostalgic raindrops, a beautiful rainbow is born. "I always believed my only lover was the piano, until I betrayed it for her." "He was so beautiful, She was capable of imprisoning my soul in hell just for him."

Not all corpses are as dead as they seem. Ivy knows she found her ex-boyfriend, Kayson, in a pool of his own blood within Hollowmyre: her uncle's historic village. The issue? No one believes her, because Kayson's body is nowhere to be found. Until he shows up in her bedroom with fangs, a bloodthirsty new appetite, and no memory of his transformation into something less than human. All he knows is it had something to do with Hollowmyre Village, a hotspot destination for vacationing families... and a site where bodies have piled up for weeks. Not all of them have been found. Together, Ivy and Kayson must reluctantly team up to find the creature who turned him before the entire village falls prey. __________ MAIN ONC PROMPT: 90. You receive a voicemail from someone you love, recorded one hour after their confirmed death. __________ ©️2026 Wrenna Stone "Hollowmyre" is posted exclusively on W a t t p a d . c o m. If you are reading this novel on another platform or website, please inform the author via W a t t p a d, as you may be reading it from a mirror site or any other platform where it has been plagiarized.

Tayla's life should have been full of adventure and battle, and it would have been had she not failed her Crest Champion test a year prior. Now she's stuck at her aunt's herbalist shop, selling potions to the very ranks she once dreamed to join. And her town has just become a hot spot for Crest Champions everywhere. The once-bound dragon Zyrel has awakened after a century of slumber, and he draws dangerous monsters to his cage. The Crest Champions must kill him before he can finally be freed. Tayla plans to keep her head down and avoid the constant reminder of her failed dream, but that changes when an alicorn appears in her garden, claiming they must join forces and release Zyrel before it's too late. There's something wrong with the story of Zyrel's imprisonment, and to uncover the truth, Tayla must join a familiar-and loathsome-face from her Academy days. Dangers await, but the greatest threat she finds in the woods won't be the prowling beasts. It will be herself.

Your soulmate mark appears at last, but instead of a name, it's a countdown. [description to come] ---------- Entered into the Open Novella Contest 2026 Summer (Bold Choices, Long Days) - Prompt #53 ©2026 M.Dalto Published to Wattpad 02.01.2026

ONC 2026 Participant | "The stars are disappearing one by one, and only you can hear their whispers." Young Thalassa is born the heir of one of the nine noble families of Midgard. During her studies she discovers a forgotten civilization. Fascinated by it, she sets off to find the old temple of the god of mischief but what she doesn't expect is the touch of deity that uproots her whole life. Suddenly, she hears whispers calling for help - and she has no idea where they come from. As she sets off to save the world, a young girl full of stories about stars finds a way into her heart. But the world is cruel and Thalassa promised she would stay kind no matter the crisis - just when it comes to her heart, she soon can't differentiate between hero and villain as both carry certain character traits one would desire. Will she be able to keep a clear mind or will her heart take over? And isn't following the call of one's heart exactly what villains usually do? ✎ 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝖽 𝖼𝗈𝗎𝗇𝗍: - ☞ 𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗋𝗍: 1.2.2026 ☞ first chapter online: - ☞ 𝖾𝗇𝖽: - © 2026 saphiwrites - all rights reserved

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.")

"When the star-flower blooms beyond its mountain, The one who endures shall mend the fracture of worlds. Neither sky nor stone shall sway her heart, For through her steps, the frozen paths shall thaw." Astraea Edelweiss has always dreamed of seeing her favorite flower in real life. She never imagined it would find her. One star-shaped bloom appears overnight in her backyard-and the moment she touches it, Astraea is hurled into a world of magic, prophecy, and danger. A realm built on a prophecy meant for a savior she is not. The Keepers admit their mistake: they summoned the wrong human. The realm is fracturing. Winter spreads unchecked. Monsters slip through cracks in reality. They want her gone. But Astraea refuses to leave. Not to fulfill the prophecy-but to rewrite it. She discovers the truth long buried in ancient scrolls: the prophecy never said "he." It said: "The one who endures." In a world that rejects her, with fate stacked against her, Astraea must defy magic, challenge myths, and prove that endurance-and courage-has no gender.

ALIEN AMONG US is a contemporary sci-fi novella that will give you the giggles, tug at your heart strings, and leave you wondering if there really is life beyond the stars. ************************************************************************ Entered into the Open Novella Contest 2026 | @OpenNovellaContest - Rules & Guidelines: here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/406004197-open-novella-contest-2026 **Main Prompt** 25. You live with four other housemates, but one of them is secretly an alien trying to learn how to act human. ©2026 E. S. Elias All Rights Reserved. Book Created & Published to Wattpad: 02.01.2026 Book Marked as Completed: 00.00.2026 Cover: Me @DesignsbyEH Word Count: 0 / 20,000 Goals: ✔ Round 1 _ | 2,000 words _ | Round 2 _ | 8,000 words Round 3 _ | 20,000 words LONGLIST _ | SHORTLIST _ Round Winner? _ | Honorable Mention? _ | Ambassadors' Pick? _ Mentioned in Ambassador Newsletter _ Rankings: #ONC2026:

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 |

For the Open Novella Contest, based on Prompt 65: On the way to collect a soul, the Grim Reaper is distracted by a stray puppy. Instead of completing the task, he decides to find the puppy's owner, much to the frustration of his assistant. ***** The Grim Reaper has seen everything, really. From the beginning of humans living in caves, all the way to modern-day humanity. These days, he's mostly a figurehead, going through a handful of cases a week that no other reaper wants. While floating through the mortal world, unseen by anyone, he comes across a dog that seems to be able to see him. Despite his over-achieving assistant begging him to return to his duties, Grim decides to seek out the puppy's owner, and in doing so meets Jeremiah. Miah is an accountant who loves numbers but hates the monotonous tone his life is taking. The rescuer of Miss Trixie, his dog, is an unusual but interesting man that he decides to strike up a friendship with... although is it just him, or is Grim a bizarre name for a person?

Prompt 44 "May I have this dance?" "Seriously? Right now, in this situation?" This is my entry for ONC 2026. It is a standalone but it takes place in the For Centuries universe.

Prompt 109 Grace Elena Diego is a good daughter and student St Will high school, Grace Elena Diego was born 1212.