Onc 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!

For Centuries Grim has been collecting souls. It's what he does, it's his purpose. One day, while collecting a soul in the park, he comes across a lost puppy. For reasons he can't explain, the urge to return the small dog to his owner is overwhelming. He soon finds the animal's owner, a woman in her mid-twenties named Maria. He is struck down by her beauty and realizes that he had once claimed the soul of someone she loved. He becomes even more conflicted when he realizes he has just one year to claim her soul.

||WATTY WINNER 2023🌟|| Two strangers pretend to be a couple to win a dumb bet. The wager: they must enrol in couples therapy and fool their counselor. _________ Six non-refundable couples counseling sessions. That's how many Clementine booked for him and his girlfriend to sort out their relationship problems. What he didn't see coming was getting dumped as soon as he informed her of it. Enter Everett, a chaotic, curly-haired boy who barges into Clementine's life. He offers to fake date and attend the counseling sessions with Clementine. Unfortunately, they are both idiots. Did they really believe they could safely fake-date in a Wattpad book and NOT fall in love? ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 Might bring to mind: "Heartstopper" but with a ton more baking and fake dating 🌈 🎼🎶 This book has a Spotify playlist with a song for each chapter. To download it you can search me on Spotify @itsmeimthevampire - the playlist name is "Idiots To Lovers." 🏅🏅🏅 Watty Winner 2023. Shortlisted in the Open Novella Contest 2023. Featured on Wattpad profiles: @Lgbtq @FreeTheLgbt @Romance 🏆🏆🏆 #2 lgbt #2 lgbtq 📆 10/5/23 #4 gay 21/5/23 #4 bxb 14/5/23 #5 boyxboy 13/5/23 #1 gayromance 5/5/23 #1 gayshipsareyayships 14/5/23 Written for ONC2023 using prompt 39: On a blind date with a complete mismatch, you're increasingly uncomfortable but too polite to leave. Then an attractive stranger comes over and gives you an out.

Annalise's morning began like any other, rushing to finish some procrastinated homework while jamming to her go-to 80s playlist. But when she walks out to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat before school, she discovers her mother not moving in front of the sink...with the water coming from the faucet not moving either. A few minutes later, time starts moving again, with nobody else having knowledge of it freezing in the first place. Will Annalise figure out the secrets behind stopping time? What else might she discover with her newfound mysterious gift?

He feared that his dream would become a reality. And when it did, he hated himself for being the cause of her ruin. .𖥔 ݁ ˖ ˚☽˚.⋆ .𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ‧₊˚ ⋅.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ‧₊˚ ⋅ Just a random night in Hugo Moulin's life and he comes across the woman he could possibly dedicate an entire love serenade to. But when she accuses him of trapping her and ruining her life, what can the man do? Good for him, for he soon realises that this miserable situation was nothing but a dream. A dream with absolutely no meanings. But what's going to happen to this guy when he finds clues that point out about the existence of the woman in reality? And what's going to be his reaction when the woman turns out to be the one person he had vowed to be wary of for the rest of life? Was she real? Or just a fever dream? Or maybe just an enemy who had been eating up his thoughts? Or....what if...he was just losing his mind? #ONC2026

Aretha inherits a house from her great aunt with a set of secrets. Secret that could change her future. or Maybe predict it. -------------------------------------------- In a world, where people possess magic, being the powerless daughter of two magical parents puts her at a disadvantage. Still Aretha tries to make the most of her life and works at a renowned business firm. By the change of events she inherits a house from her great aunt. A house that contains book that provide a detailed account of her future. What happens when she uses this knowledge to aide her everyday targets and to one up her office rival? Nothing at first. Not until a blank book appears.

After leaving her tiresome job, Elara decides to now totally focus on her passion that is painting and what could be a better option from nature. She decides to live in the ancestral abandoned house for peace and motivation, but is that the only thing she is going to get? Or would she find even more big and attractive, non human motivation? Will it get messy or turn to be perfect? Keep reading to find out. # Prompt 119 used from ONC

When the heart of Valen'har began to rot, Bille - the Primordial Tree who sustains the Aether and keeps the veils of the world intact - bore within her trunk an artifact of Chaos, driven deep into her wood. The corruption did not kill her. It rendered her magic unstable. Unpredictable. To prevent the kingdom's immediate collapse, black magnolias were cultivated as anchors, sustaining the only barrier that separates the Vaelari from the mortal world. But the flowers do not heal or restore the tree, they merely delay the inevitable.

The human body, by nature, is an item on this earthly plane that can succumb to the most impossible of capabilities. Yet, it is nothing without the mind that resides within it. Simply, it is the mind that controls the body. But it is the heart that leads it. The heart that pumps blood through the veins, which enacts each and every muscle that the mind says to move. And still, it is the nervous system that detects every single touch. The lingering of the fingers that stay on your arm after the owner of them has left. It is the combined mix of these items that fractures the perception of one Daniela Avanzini. -------- ONC 2026 Prompt: 24. Staying as friends feels safe, but that doesn't mean it's the path you're meant to take. #1 in #Hands 02/13/26, 02/18/26, 02/21/26

Waking up in a new world is shocking, even for a robot. Silver, on the other hand, has known nothing else than this. She has been an outsider her entire life. Zer0 was created as a promise for the future. Silver is surplus, trying to stay unnoticed. Both struggle with expectations that don't fit who they are. But is what they've been told true, or must they discover their own truth? Together, they explore what they want and what the world truly needs. Because more of the same is what created their current situation. It is time to rewrite the system. Together. According to prompt 28. Self-love often starts small, like planting a single seed. With time, patience, and a bit of light, it will blossom.

Life isn't fair, and some have accepted that. I haven't. Some seem to be in charge, while others can never stand up for themselves. That can also be done differently. The hierarchy is cracking, more and more with each passing day. Vaméa and Roche live in the same world, yet their position couldn't be further apart. One is a predator, the other prey. Both carry a hidden agenda when fate forces them together. It is time to break the system before it breaks them. According to prompt 45. Kings have honor, soldiers are brave, poets have hearts, and all I have is rage!

Flowers have always been an important mark in Edin Sørensen's life. So much so, she has a flower for every occassion. Last night, it was a sunflower for the start of her senior year in highschool! She should be happy. But all she feels is dread. Especially when the day starts off bumping into a complete stranger.

Harper is hopeless. Her boyfriend of four years dumped her just a month before the wedding of their mutual friend, and now he's posting lovey-dovey photos with his new girlfriend all over social media. She needs a new date for the wedding. She needs revenge. Levi is frustrated. He has a successful career and great standing in his grandfather's company, but said grandfather isn't satisfied. Now that Levi is on the brink of taking over, he gives him an ultimatum: get married and settle down before he turns thirty. And the clock is ticking. It just so happens that Harper's sister is getting married to Levi's brother, and a spilled cup of coffee gets them to share their predicaments with each other. They make a deal: they'll help each other out, get married in a couple of months, and divorce after a year or so. Sounds simple enough, except for the fact that they'll have to convince their families that they've been secretly dating for a while. But when unexpected feelings get in the way, selling their fake relationship will be the least of their worries.

She repairs broken memories - but who will repair the truth? ***** Nova Aurion understands how fragile memory can be - she mends it for a living. In a world where memory is currency and abilities define worth, society is divided into Endowments: cognitive classes established to preserve stability. Every three years, the nation hosts 'Project Elite' - a prestigious competition honoring the finest minds from each Endowment. Within the high-stakes arena, they contend not only for victory, but for the recognition to lead their future. When Nova, a Memory Diver renowned for restoring fractured minds, is selected to compete - she enters the Project, determined to win. However, survival demands more than mere intellect; it requires strategy, perception and sacrifice. As alliances shift and sparks ignite, a forbidden dive into a stranger's memory leaves Nova deeply unsettled, leading to a chilling realisation: what if Project Elite isn't designed to measure brilliance at all - but to harvest something far more dangerous? Caught between a charming rival, a skeptical ally, and a system that predicts every move, she must confront a choice that could reshape humanity itself - Is an unpredictable future worth the risk of chaos... or is controlled stability the safest path to preservation? ************************** ONC prompt (main): 111: With a single touch, you can slip into someone else's memories. But when a stranger shows you a future crime involving you, you must uncover the truth before it comes to pass.

Kata is an orphan. A young girl living a lie to stay alive. Hiding amongst the all-male guild of thieves. A robbery gone wrong turns her life upside down, Will her past catch up with her or will love be enough to save her?

Written for the Open Novella Contest Prompt #25 Spring You live with four other housemates, but one of them is secretly an alien trying to learn how to act human. A new dawn rose above the horizon. I vowed to never miss another sunrise or sunset for as long as I was alive. It never occurred to me how precious each moment was until it was too late... English major, Callie Rose has lived with her friends off campus since sophomore year. When one of their roommates leaves them hanging, they find another to take his place. Hayes Kane checks all the boxes on paper to be a perfect roommate, but there's something odd about him. When he saves Callie from almost falling off the roof, she starts to notice that the six-foot man doesn't quite act human. Who is he and what is he hiding? And why does she suddenly feel attracted to him?

A theater, a journal, and gossip. In the capital, time is never waiting for you to catch up... Esias is under pressure. Between his editor pushing him to find the scoop that will interest all the socialites and his mother pushing him to find a wife, he has no time to think about what really interests him: theatre. And this attractive actress won't give him any respite, on either side... Aloyse has always known that she would have to fend for herself. While her passion for acting has always pushed her to the forefront of the stage, behind the scenes, she knows that she must use cleverness to survive. But when her plan is derailed by a rival, she must redouble her efforts to win the favour of high society; and it seems that a certain journalist could help her... Infiltrate a ball to ruin a reputation? Between scheming, writing and dancing, their investigation will be no easy task. But will they find what they are looking for, even if it is not what they expected?

"Please... don't believe the lies Simon and his friends will feed you. They're lying. Things... go much deeper than you thought." That Sonic Charge exploding has Kazdan Kalinkas mourning the technical loss of his closest friend, Tom Majors. At least, the loss of his Chaotic self. But an hour after his confirmed coding, he gets a voice message that changes everything. Something is happening behind the scenes of Chaotic. Something sinister. And the only ones aware of it are a group of friends and two disgraced Codemasters. Dismantling a secret empire may be hard when one of you is stuck on Earth, while a part of him is gallivanting around Perim, refusing contact whatsoever. (Uses Prompt no 90 of ONC 2026) (Conspiracy AU for Chaotic)

There was a time before Elier fell in love with the Night. A time when she feared it, like any other child. She had seen it suck the will out of the sun, the warmth from the air, and turn the world black in the veins between neighborhoods, parting cities and families alike. The pockets between school where the world was darkest was when she'd squeeze her eyes shut as the bus drove through, gripping bruised arms around her legs like her feeble body could protect her from its soul-chilling touch. It had been a long time since she felt that touch on her soul. But packing up her stuff that evening, enclosed in her concrete jail of an office, she felt the cold sharp fingers rake through her heart. \\ Prompts: 108. During a city-wide blackout, every reflective surface begins showing a version of you that isn't human. 37. Your hateful stare fixes on the smug bird. It has beaten you once again.

Genevieve Moore isn't exactly a failed author, but when her sapphic romance debut novel, set in 1920's America, performs poorly, her publishers turn down her second novel and even her agents begin to turn away from her, she starts to wonder whether she should simply return to a life of even more obscurity. When she sees a woman on, the train to a literary festival, reading her novel, Genevieve wonders if the smiles the woman is wearing are through enjoyment of the book or amusement at Genevieve's failure. It's a long journey and there's plenty of time to ask, but does Genevieve want to know the answer? And the woman being extremely attractive has no impact upon how the conversation goes. None at all. Unless ... A gently humorous sapphic romance novella for ONC.