Onc2025 Stories

My writing experience for ONC this year.

Whether it's your first time or your seventh time, writing a novella in 12 weeks isn't easy. As a 2021 ONC Winner and two-time Honorable Mention (2023/2024), I totally understand. After years of participation and reflection, I have lots of advice to share on how I wrote a winning novella and look forward to writing every year. Inside this guide, you can find everything from insider tips to craft chats to contest commentary. So grab a cup, get your notebook, and settle in: it's time to start writing! Copyright © 2022 Elle Chaika

Last Carrier is the origin story of a superhero from Mumbai, India. The sole infected survivor of a deadly pandemic, gifted with a unique ability: the power to evolve and become indestructible. Desperate attempts to recreate his power unleash a parasitic virus that enslaves the population. The only cure lies within the very body of this man which cannot be extracted. But can he make the ultimate sacrifice to save a dying world?

Fate can come in any shape, form, or reality, and Novalie soon finds that she can attest to this when her fate comes in the form of a mysterious tea shop that appears in an unconventional location. Will she take flight, or is the pull of fate too strong to resist?

When a cursed bangle binds Sea Drifter Ninnette to a dangerous demon, she only has three days to break the curse before it claims her life. °:•.🪸.•:° Ninnette is a Sea Drifter with the power to command water, dredging shipwrecks, and salvaging lost treasure. When she braves a sunken ship no one else dares to dive, she finds a strange clockwork bangle that binds her to an ancient curse and to the infuriating Kazi, a demon who leaves destruction wherever he goes. The moment the bangle is activated, they are hunted by a secret order led by a relentless Priestess who believes the armlet is a key to something far greater than treasure. But the true danger isn't the order. It isn't the demon Kazi. It's the curse. When Ninnette puts on the bangle, a countdown begins. If she doesn't break the curse in three days, she will die like every wearer before her. °:•.🪸.•:° She commands the sea. He is a demon who has lived for centuries. They are both bound by a curse. Only three days to survive. °:•.🪸.•:° Set in a Maritime Steampunk world, and inspired by Filipino cultures, from Spanish influence to the seafaring Sama-Bajau. This story weaves dangerous magic, high stakes, and heart-aching romance. °:•.🪸.•:° ONC 2025 Honorable Mention °:•.🪸.•:° Romantasy High Fantasy Fantasy Adventure SciFi Steampunk Fantasci Young Adult

My Entry for ONC 2025 (Open Novella Contest). Delia and Stella are clichéd opposites. Delia is the hard-working, introverted sister, and Stella is the outgoing, always ready-for-a-party sister. But when a handsome new neighbor turns Stella into a googly-eyed, stuttering mess, Delia unwittingly steps in to play matchmaker. Despite the good intentions, being cupid is hard, especially when the rules start to blur. Language and mature themes (16+) All characters and events in this story are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Any similarities in plot to other works, movies, books or elsewhere is completely unintentional and coincidental. I work hard to ensure my stories are original from character creation to the storyline. I never publish unless I am 100% satisfied. No part of this story may reproduced in any form or by any means, without permission. Please respect my creative rights.

Sleeping Beauty with a few twists! Scarlett Bochelle is just fine alone, thank you very much. She is perfectly satisfied with her work as a Zookeeper for large primates and her hobbies. She certainly doesn't need her friend setting her up on a date with a rockstar with public commitment phobia. Little does she know that her friend and her date are hiding secrets that will put her in grave danger even before their first date begins. She will have to choose between her relatively safe but lonely life, and a breathtaking love that will require a leap of faith. #ONC2025 based on prompt 94

Livy barely escaped a war he never wanted, only to stumble into a secret that could unravel everything, his past, his identity, and the fragile peace he fought for. A hidden chamber, a cryptic riddle, and a syndicate that wants him dead. The deeper he digs, the clearer it becomes: his bloodline is not what he was told, and someone went to great lengths to keep it buried. Now, every step toward the truth threatens to expose him, and the wrong move won't just cost him his life, it will set the world on fire. After all, some legacies aren't meant to be inherited.

[CLOSED FOR 2025] Astania's ONC book club dedicated to supporting participants with a stress-free, supportive environment. Anyone participating in the ongoing Open Novella Contest is eligible to enter! You can choose any member's book to read, and receive engagement on your own book in the process! Every month, the most engaged member will receive a shout-out from the profile. For 2025, there is no minimum reading requirement. See our profile for year-round book clubs!

Lucia Jennings never believed in reincarnation; until she choked on spicy noodles and woke up as Lin Xi, the tragic heiress from the drama "Whispers of the Heiress". The problem? She hated the show and never finished it. Armed with her corporate experience and an unhealthy number of short drama binge sessions, Lin Xi refuses to follow the script. Everything is going perfectly-until the supposed "real heiress," Bai Lian, waltzes in with a paternity test, claiming Lin Xi's life as her own. Lin Xi worked too hard to let some imposter take everything away. If Bai Lian wants a fight, then she just walked into the wrong drama. ~ Brace yourselves; it's a fast ride. ~~~~~~~ This short story is based on Prompt #48 of the ONC 2025. 48: A fake paternity test threatens to tear apart the family you've built, as an imposter seeks to claim your rightful place as heir. ~~~~ Cover by maskedinthelight (myself)

'When Chance Meets Destiny' a pretty ambiguous fortune for someone who does not believe in fortune telling or fate like Niko. However, for Miss Evangeline Thompson, any explanation is worth her attention if it explains the most unexpected situations.

What happens when you come face to face with your worst nightmare? Do you run away or face it head-on? Whatever you choose to do it changes you in ways you never could have predicted, that is if you survive it all first.

Gorgeous Cover by @BreanneLHeureux | Long Listed ONC 2025 | Summoned to another world through a mysterious door, college student Silver Wolfe discovers a realm of witches who want nothing other than to lock him in a dungeon until the day he dies because of a prophecy claiming he would be the 'Destroyer of Worlds'. He is broken out of the dungeon by not a person, but a stray cat who holds a strange likeness to a man he hates from his homeworld. Now that he is free, will he follow the prophecy or find his destiny in the paws of others? #ONC2025 WC: 21.3K Genre: Fantasy-Adventure Copyright© 2025 short_flame

Some roads aren't meant to be traveled alone... because they can kill. | On her way home after a long day of work, the most talented basket weaver in Sitio Sanstorya clashes with her childhood bullies. Luckily for Mila, an eligible bachelor from the same village comes to her rescue. Unfortunately, Lucca also happens to be the neighborhood's most notorious flirt and sweet-talking cadger. Before she could shoo him away, the road she travels almost every day of her life transforms into a dark and terrifying place. Now Mila has no choice but to rely on her equally frightened yet surprisingly protective companion. She will have to resist Lucca's rapt stares and constant flattery until they find their way home. And until they escape the monsters hunting them down.

A woman seeking vengeance A detective chasing truth Death and secrets of the past following their every step † † † 1920s, Prague Milana has lost her home twice. The first time, when she was forced by her husband to leave St. Petersburg. The second, when the last shards of fragile affection between them died in their exile. Slowly suffocated by his obsession to become a grand author, his extremist associates, and his abuse, no day passes without thoughts of escape. Finally, the chance is presented to her. But in a horrible way: When Milana's best friend and lover, Jasna, is found murdered, she learns the one investigating is none other than Matěj Graf-nothing more than a faint memory of secret notes exchanged through a copy of "Anna Karenina" until one day ago. But now, he is back in her life, and Milana might hold the key to the only case he cannot solve. And other than their favorite novel's heroine, Milana is determined to break free alive. A once novella about crime and forbidden love, in which 'Anna Karenina' meets 'Babylon Berlin', following prompts 87, 118 and 57

After six years in a progressive French boarding school, eighteen-year-old Lady Alice returns to her family's estate in Surrey, dreading the fate that awaits her-- debutante balls, an arranged marriage, and a life she does not want. She would have preferred to stay in France, teaching and writing love tales rather than living one dictated by others. Once cast aside by her own father and a stepmother, Alice finds their sudden desire for reconciliation hollow. Only her childhood best friend, Michael, Marquess Lovelace, seems like a true comfort. But as she settles back into her former home, something strange begins to happen. A black rabbit, eerily familiar, appears in the shadows-- just like the one that belonged to Edmond, her long-forgotten imaginary friend. And then she meets Count D'Arcy, the enigmatic and elusive neighbour whose presence unsettles her. His eyes, his voice, his very being remind her of Edmond. Could it be him? Or is her mind playing tricks on her? As the social season unfolds, Alice finds herself tangled in a web of mystery, romance, and the supernatural. The past and present blur, forcing her to question what is real, what is illusion, and whether love can exist beyond the bounds of reason. In the haunting halls of her childhood home and under the watchful gaze of Count D'Arcy, Alice must uncover the truth before she loses herself to the unknown. ~~~ My entry for the ONC 2025 based on the prompt 105: Your childhood imaginary friend, who disappeared years ago, suddenly returns - only this time, they're real.

ONC Longlister || Shortlister || Round 3 Ambassador Pick When the sacred Wind Scepter is stolen, the elven kingdom of Everdaile is plunged into chaos. Varelor, a disgraced prince, must uncover the truth behind the theft but his quest unravels a conspiracy that might paint him as the world's greatest threat. ❥๑━━ In a world on the brink of ruin, two elven brothers are bound by heart but torn by destiny. Varelor, the shadowed one, craves a throne that was never his and a legacy slipping through his grasp. Livian, the golden prince, fights for honor, blind to the darkness growing beside him. Caught between them is Kaelira--her touch, salvation; her words, poison. As kingdoms fall and betrayal cuts deeper than any blade, Varelor must face a devastating truth: to save the kingdom, he might have to destroy the one person he loves most. What makes a villain--the choices we make or the truths we can't outrun? ❥๑━━ ONC prompts used: 121. Unstoppable by Sia 125. Fear is the mind-killer. 126. Because you're you, and I'm me, and we just don't fit. 129. The ink of our souls binds us beyond the pages of time.

Tristram Wald likes to spend his days daydreaming about all of the magical things that he wishes would transpire in his lowly, humble and mundane existence. As an orphan, he was taken in by his Uncle Giacomo and forced to endure hardship and cruelty, and is eventually put to work in his Uncle's celebrated shoemakers shop. But now Tristram Wald is eighteen years and he has big ideas of his own Tristram wants his own success and fortune. A chance encounter with the beautiful Princess Oriana Aureum cements the idea of escape from his humble beginnings in Tristram's mind. Desperate for riches, so that he will be eligible to marry the princess, Tristram allows himself to be coerced by a mysterious Goblin named Grimalkin who claims he can weave straw into gold. But Tristram will soon find out that putting his trust in a renowned trickster can have sinister consequences. The Gold Weaver of Goblin Wood is a dark fairy-tale, horror.

When a fellow witch is accused of a heinous crime, Rowburta Copperbottom. A witch of minimal magical ability but a thirst for knowledge, must investigate the allegations and then prove at a trial the innocence of her colleague. But, with mysterious enemies trying to thwart her at every turn, Rowburta must rely on far more than her witchly magics to aid her in a race against time to prove that justice isn't just blind, but not averse to a little monetary tipping of the scales, either. Rowburta has more than magic to help, she has the lore. A tale in the Terry Pratchett inspired Godworld, where people are about to meet the world's first Witch Loreyer. An ONC novella, based on Prompt 14: "Not everyone in your coven becomes a witch doctor. But you? You are the witch lawyer and take care of the mystical laws of the magical world."

28. On a beach vacation, you dive into the water, but it turns purple and suddenly you're pulled under the sand. What's waiting for you beneath the surface? 34. Your new job requires an out of town overnight orientation, but when you check in, you run into someone from your past that you never thought you'd see again. Casey (Cas) Galanis doesn't know whether to say she is a burn victim, or was, as it had been over a decade. While her body bore the evidence of her past, she was more than ready to leave every bit of the trauma from recovery and society behind her. Unfortunately, anyone back home that was still cruel about her looks wasn't going to change. They didn't want to see her as capable of caring for herself. The lowest point was her sister refusing to have her in her wedding photos, citing aesthetics. The out she found was in the hospitality industry, specifically an older, privately owned hotel. True, people would continue to be cruel to her. Even if they brought up her looks, they would be more concerned that their room was clean, the TV worked, the pool was warm, and they made it in time for the complimentary breakfast. And most of that, as a maid, wouldn't be her problem. That, and it came with a room that they couldn't be rented out. Which was odd for a hotel a short walk from the beach. The first hurdle would be the Tuesday night orientation. The second would be if she could learn to love the beach and all it's exposure. But there would be more surprises in store-the doctor who helped heal her and the dead Egyptian god who consumed any free time she had. Because of the possibilities in two men, life wasn't lonely anymore. Cover Art: Photo by Austin J. Best from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-smoking-1205388/ Other elements are Wikicommons, mods are mine.