Opennovellacontest2026 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!

Prompt 78 - You begin to realize nothing is quite what it seems.

Open Novella Contest 2026 Based on Prompt 65 Round 1, 2 & 3 Qualifier One detour, chaos ensues. Grim Reaper Lucinda, her assistant Iyra and chauffeur William are a trio of sorts. When their usual routine of collection goes haywire due to an adorable puppy, they never would have guessed it'd lead to that much of a catastrophe! Watch as they scramble to fix the mess while the Guild breathes down their backs with the promise of countless lawsuits they'll have no escape from! The danger is a lot more potent that ever anticipated! Started On: 11th February 2026 Ended On: 30th April 2026 Word Count Complete: 21,030 words

ALIEN AMONG US is a contemporary sci-fi novella that will give you the giggles, tug at your heartstrings, 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 Book Cover: Me @DesignsbyEH Word Count: 2,222 / 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 _ Top-5 Winner? _ Rankings: #ONC2026: #ONC #2 02.03.2026

Cassidy Marlow is a senior who likes to keep her life simple and fun. School, music, friends, and books are all she needs to stay sane. Between scrolling through posts and daydreaming, she doesn't expect much to shake up her carefully balanced world. That is, until, the new kid appears and Cass just so happens to be interested. Asher Park, a senior as well, likes to keep to himself. He struggles with isolation, hiding behind his careful smiles and guitar. And beneath everything...lies a secret that's captivated millions. Starting at a new school feels impossible, until he notices the one girl who actually tries to see him. As Cassidy's and Asher's worlds collide, identities and growing feelings start to develop. Shadowy online threats, comments, and bullying starts to hit at them relentlessly and puts them both at risk. Cass must navigate her own heart while helping the boy she's coming to know, bit by bit. Maybe some connections are worth risking everything for. ----------- Open Novella Contest (ONC 2026) - Prompt 23: You discover the quiet transfer student in your class is actually a world-famous pop star hiding in plain sight, and their secret begins to reshape both your lives. - Prompt 78: You begin to realize that nothing is quite what it seems. Highest rankings: [04.18.26] #1 - songwriter [05.25.26] #3 - opennovellacontest2026 [05.25.26] #3 - theatre

Kieran is already dealing with a flirtatious boss, disdainful coworkers and a heavy workload and writhing self-insecurity that gives him a perpetual migraine. Now the cute boy he met as a child had turned out to be a handsome, adorable... werewolf?! Salva opened their wings to their city neighbors in Bellport's greatest time of need, but will the divide between the two cities be greater than the chasm that seperates the them both or can they work together to find the solution to the virus that plagues them both? #ONC2026 #2k #8k Genre: Fantasy-Supernatural, Werewolf Mature (16+): Mention of abuse, Bullying, Profanity, Gore/Violence Copyright© 2025 short_flame

You wake up in your childhood bed with a bruise on your forehead and no memory of how you got home. The friends who celebrated you the night before all have different versions of what happened. The more you search for the truth, the worse the migraines become. Your mother warned you about them. Now you have to decide which is more dangerous: losing your memory or recovering it.

ONC 2026 Prompt 84: You were hired to be their companion, nothing more, but as their illness worsens, you're caught between responsibility, longing, and the ache of knowing you can't save them. ***************************************** (UPDATE May 2nd 2026 - I dedicate this story to the F1 driver and paralympian Alex Zanardi who sadly passed today. Alex's story is a real one of triumph over disaster.) ***************************************** Cat's nursing career has been tanked by her strength to call out a senior colleague who was under the influence of alcohol in an emergency operating theatre. It is Cat's nature to stand up for what she believes in regardless of personal cost. Planning her next move a recruitment notice catches her eye and she responds to it. Jeremy Churchill, a distant relative of Winston himself. At 27 years old and a fly-half for the Northampton Saints Rugby Club a routine xray after a heavy tackle has blown his world apart. She slowly starts to battle professional detachment for friendship, and attraction and desire for something more. He trades sullen silence and self pity for moments he realises it's not the sword of damocles hanging over his head. Final word count : 32,694 UPDATE The Bucket List has a soundtrack on Amazon music https://music.amazon.co.uk/user-playlists/71bfeae09df64bdc8c306192fdef981bengb?ref=dm_sh_7VfGpXGh0jYuWvAGPfQmHD5Fx

Roman Kerr thought he knew everything about the woman he married. He was wrong. - An entry for Open Novella Contest | Prompt: 28 & 29.

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. [FORMERLY AN ENTRY FOR THE 2026 ONC]

Gem Benitez works in the shadow of powerful men. As the trusted assistant to Aidan Han, she is valued for her precision, her discretion, and her ability to endure without complaint. Her body bears the marks of an old fire, but her mind remains sharp - often sharper than those who underestimate her. When Lucien enters her life, he offers something different: attention without pity, honesty without agenda, and a desire that feels dangerously like the validation she craves. Caught between a man who protects her until she can no longer breathe and one who desires her until she no longer recognizes herself, Gem must learn to distinguish devotion from possession before it's too late. As corporate rivalries and personal vendettas converge, Gem discovers that loving two people is not the danger. Belonging to neither may be. ─── ♕ ── ♙ ── ♚ ─── This story is written for the Open Novella Contest v.2026. ✦ ᑭᖇOᗰᑭT 115 ✦ A prophecy claim that you will love two people. One destined to save your life and the other destined to destroy it. The trouble is, you have no idea which is which. ─── ♕ ── ♙ ── ♚ ─── (more description coming soon)

When an accident send her home early, Phoebe unexpectedly discovers her cat's secret that turn her life upside down. As the madness takes the strangest turns, she teams up with a new pet and his 'hooman' to face the evil. An unusual story- Full of shocks, surprises and absurd, slow and funny romance Newbur- A small city, nested on the coast of America which was less famous for it's beaches and bright weather but instead for the World's only Superhero-The Black Man. Why did the dashing hero gave himself that name? Nobody knew. But he ticked all the boxes that young Phoebe dreamt of in a superhero. But then days passed and so did her obsession with the 'Black vigilante' who was every where- on the T.V, posters and newspaper. Instead, she watched cartoons, used posters as tissues and solved puzzles in the newspaper. All the while with Mr. Perkins by her side. So, imagine her heartattack when she comes home after the strangest day of her life and find her cat missing. Who could save her from this tragedy? And how will her feeble heart survive the mysteries that come with it? WELCOME TO PHOEBE JOHNSON'S TWISTED LIFE STORY!

The dream always ended the same way: with the salt-spray of an ocean I'd never visited and the warmth of a hand I couldn't quite grasp. He never had a face-just a silhouette cut out of the moonlight-but his voice was a low rumble that vibrated in my chest. "Find me," he'd whisper. "Before the clocks stop." When I woke up, the silence of my apartment felt like a physical weight. I checked my pulse, my skin still buzzing from a touch that didn't exist. I told myself it was just stress. I told myself that "Thorne" was a name I'd probably seen on a billboard or a dusty law book. But then I saw him.

Against the backdrop of a damp, golden London autumn... ​In 2026 London, history professor Sarah uncovers a centuries-old letter hidden behind an old framed painting in her new flat. As she deciphers its secrets, she becomes entwined in a long-lost love and a mystery that spans generations-leading her to a man who holds the final piece of the puzzle." Participation in the Open Novella Contest 2026 Prompt used: #79 © 2026 by Nermein Sami El-Kurdi. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission is strictly prohibited #onc2026 #opennovellacontest2026 #oncprompt79

Abrie Warren didn't go to the Portland synagogue wedding looking for anything life‑changing - until Judd Nelson walked in wearing sunglasses indoors and staring at her like she'd rewritten his script. What follows pulls her into the warm chaos of his sisters, his unpredictable actor friends, and a chemistry that unfolds with the slow‑burn tension of a 90s indie film.

25-year-old Melody Marsh doesn't believe in magic. She might call herself a witch, but her witchcraft is just knowlegde of plants and a skill for healing people. Magic is just a thing of fairytales and legends, she believes. Until one day a massive black dragon appears in her garden, with his dirty, heavy feet right on her precious plants. He's a messenger of the gods and Melody was chosen for a quest. So after recovering from the trauma caused by the mass murder on her plants, Melody follows the dragon on a journey over the seven seas to the world's edge. It's there where she gets the chance to change one regret from her past, but everything has a catch. What's the right decision in the eyes of fate, when fate herself has been looking over Meldoy all her life? ______________ Written for the English edition of the Open Novella Contest (ONC) 2026. Based on prompt 74: You are offered the chance to rewrite one regret from your past, but doing so requires giving up a memory you treasure. The living library awaits your decision.

Shira boards a train to Madagascar's east coast, hoping to find herself. But when a stranger starts reading her forgotten book with a smile that surprises her, the journey becomes more than miles on the tracks. Through quiet conversations and small, revealing moments, she begins to wonder: What is a love that lasts? Sometimes, the questions we carry lead us to the people and the answers we never expected.

"If we could only have this life for one more day If we could only turn back time" Emmeline is a 17-year-old girl who loves the boy band One Direction even though they broke up (SHHH IT'S A HIATUS). She always wished she could have been there when they were together, but what if she could? By some unknown way, she suddenly is back in the year 2012 and the One Direction boys find her, saying that with her, they will not meet their doom. What could they possibly be talking about? (This is for the Open Novella Contest for 2026)

When Aspen Park goes missing at a party, everyone assumes she ran away, but her two best friends, Luna Torres and Miriam Bykowski, know that there's something more to the story and set out to uncover the truth. Open Novella Contest 2026- Prompt #51

Fallon never meant to survive the night. Broken by grief and haunted by shadows that she can no longer outrun, she throws herself from the cliffs into the storm-torn sea-choosing darkness over another dawn. Instead of death, she finds fire. A dragon rises from the waves and pulls her from the abyss. Ancient. Wounded. Hunted. When the beast vanishes, and a stranger with molten-gold eyes takes his place, Fallon learns the truth: dragons are not the mindless monsters the kingdom fears. They are shifters-rare, powerful, and nearly extinct. And Ambrose is the last of the Draco. The realm has already sent its most revered knight to finish what generations began: the eradication of dragonkind. If Ambrose is found, the Draco will fall forever. Fallon owes her life to the creature the world calls a monster. As soldiers close in and secrets of the old magic awaken in her blood, Fallon must choose between the safety of the kingdom that failed her-or the dragon who saved her. Protecting Ambrose means defying the crown, confronting the knight sworn to destroy him, and risking her heart to a being of fire and shadow. Because the greatest danger isn't the blade hunting dragons. It's falling for one. [Entry for the Open Novella Contest 2026]