Onc2025 Stories

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

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 2025 LONGLISTED ✉️ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ❛❛What started under a drizzle turned into a thunderstorm. Prohibiting me from wanting too much, yet wanting it all.❜❜ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ A Teen Fiction Novel | Ongoing ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ When September Grahams starts to receive letters from an anonymous person, she's in awe of his cursive, his words, his rhythm. The beautiful poetry she has the chance to read every month makes her heart soar. Her sister's convinced, it's a prank, but September believes otherwise. And, she also hopes the new member of their Literature club is the one who's making these sweet advances, hidden in the folds of those beige envelopes. However, the letters might remain the only good thing in her life as her world seems to shrink and cracks start to show. As buried secrets threaten to awaken, and friends turn to foes, will she find the one person who continues to remain her only source of true happiness? One must turn the page, to learn about all the 10 Letters To September . . . ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ❛❛The ink of our souls binds us beyond the pages of time.❜❜ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Started : 01.02.2025 Posted : 07.02.2025 Novella : 27.02.2025 Status : Novel, Ongoing. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ © All rights reserved by Rose LeClaire 2025

Rael has no choice: to find a cure for a mysterious illness, he must seek out the hermit in the Shadow Forest. His pack is doomed. But the Omega knows that the dreaded Shadow Forest Pack lives there, and they have a deadly feud with the Blood Moon Pack. But he is not alone. A mysterious stranger follows him and helps him when needed. When he arrives at the hermit's hut, Rael realises that she is a special witch - and that the disease is much more than anyone could have imagined. - - - Prompt 85. A sickness descends upon your pack, and you're the only one immune. As the Alpha succumbs to the illness, it's up to you to find a cure before it's too late.

THE LAST SIGNATURE The ink that doesn't fade. Eli never believed his brother's death was an accident. He just never had proof. Until Nora found the yearbook. Hidden inside a wall. Filled with names written in ink that doesn't age. Names that belong to students who all graduated normally, lived quietly - and died exactly three hundred and sixty-five days later. No headlines. No investigations. Just a pattern so clean it could only be deliberate. Now there are five of them who know. One name already inside that shouldn't be. Eleven weeks until the rest of them walk across that stage. And something ancient, patient, and nameless has been collecting signatures for a very long time. It isn't finished yet.

[ONC2025] | [Shortlist] Marlot and Ké live in the slum of Cyberion, where they belong to the lowest level of society due to their individual flaws. They fear, but also looking forward with excitement to the 'twenty days of freedom' that will determine their adult future. Outside the gates of Cyberion, they discover that things are very different than they thought. They must choose whether to return to the suffocating tech city or embrace their new - unknown - life. ... Prompt 110: '20 days of freedom'

In the aftermath of a long and bloody war, the daughter of a king, no longer a princess, Mussumi, has to bend the knee to the man who has defeated her father. With only a small escort to lead her back to her homeland, Mussumi soon realises that the warlord does not intend for her to reach home alive. Only the intervention of a skilled warrior, who identifies herself only as 'Duty', allows Mussumi to escape, but a desperate chase ensues and only 'Duty' can get her to the ship that will carry her to safety. With the enemy sniping at their heels at every turn, Mussumi and Duty have to face dangerous paths and deadly creatures to reach the port. But can Duty be trusted, or is she only another assassin waiting to strike? An ONC novella, based on Prompt 31: "Next time, ask yourself if your integrity can withstand the truth."

Victoria is an aspiring playwright. So when the "Write Your Own Shakespeare" contest is announced, she finally sees her chance to make it big. That is until her rival announces that he too, will be participating. Liam has a secret. He's a vampire, and up until recently, that's never been a problem. But now it is, because he's found his soulmate. The problem? It's Victoria, and she hates him. So, to try and win her over, he decides to join the play writing contest. Except, he has no idea how to write a play. As Victoria fights for the top spot, and Liam fights for her love - and his life - they start to spend more time together, and something, a lot different than hate, starts to blossom between them. ~~ Cover by: -MilaSteele

| Round 2, Ambassador Pick | When media mogul Richard Langley demands his children declare their love to inherit his empire, the refusal of his youngest daughter sparks a bitter family feud, forcing her to choose between healing old wounds or securing her place in the business world. ✦✦✦ The year is 2025, and the world of family legacies is as ruthless as it is glamorous. When Richard Langley, a powerful titan of the industry, announces his retirement, he demands his three adult children-Gwen, Riley, and Cora-profess their love for him in exchange for their share of the family empire. Gwen and Riley fall in line, but Cora, the youngest, refuses to bow to her father's demand and offers only brutal honesty. Enraged, Richard disowns her, casting her out of the family. As his mental state unravels, Gwen and Riley fight tooth and nail for control of the Langley legacy, manipulating their father and each other in a battle of wills and ambition. Meanwhile, Cora, heartbroken but determined, builds her own path to success in the media world. But when Richard reaches out, desperate and broken, Cora must decide whether to heal the rift or walk away for good. ✦✦✦ ✦ A modern retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear x Succession ✦ Cover design by @TheWildCyde ✦ Open Novella Contest 2025 | Prompts 31, 110, 111, 129 ᴄᴏᴘʏʀɪɢʜᴛ © 2025 ʙʏ ᴀᴜᴅʀᴇʏ ᴀʟʟ ʀɪɢʜᴛꜱ ʀᴇꜱᴇʀᴠᴇᴅ. ᴛʜɪꜱ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴏʀ ᴀɴʏ ᴘᴏʀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇᴏꜰ ᴍᴀʏ ɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇ ʀᴇᴘʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴇᴅ ᴏʀ ᴜꜱᴇᴅ ɪɴ ᴀɴʏ ᴍᴀɴɴᴇʀ ᴡʜᴀᴛꜱᴏᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇxᴘʀᴇꜱꜱ ᴡʀɪᴛᴛᴇɴ ᴘᴇʀᴍɪꜱꜱɪᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀ ᴇxᴄᴇᴘᴛ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴜꜱᴇ ᴏꜰ ʙʀɪᴇ

Prompt 69: Corporations dominate the world, stifling creativity with the force of the sterile police to eliminate any source of unauthorized competition. Alma 751 learned to read and write before the Great Uprising of 2103, when WorldKOR restored order to its territories and began to eliminate literacy after the Lost War and the Punishment. She works as one of the lowest ranks of Common Tech: scribe, purging lost and secret libraries and other book slums of contamination lest the blessed illiterate are defiled. She ensures the materials are destroyed beyond repair. Like all scribes, she is watched to ensure she does not teach the blessed to read and write or learn forbidden teachings by hearsay and become irrevocably contaminated. Alma hides from KOR her activities with the underground group, Libre, which rescues books and other forbidden material for the glorious day when their world will read again. Alma realizes she is closely watched by WorldKOR Tech Police but doesn't know why. WorldKOR does not know her two secrets, kept from everyone, even her husband and family her entire life. Only Alvin, her blind brother taken by WorldKOR to purge Braille readers, knew them, and insisted she keep them secret before he was taken to the Museum of Congress. The purification level is estimated at eighty-seven percent when WorldKOR announces Project Cleanse, a ten-year plan designed to replace scribes and other low-level readers and writers with communication bots within ten years. Project Cleanse starts on 1/1/18, formerly January 1, 2121. Alma knows its time to leave WorldKOR North America, if she can escape her watchers and find freedom in Brazil.

|A SET OF TWO WHAT'S NEW SCOOBY-DOO FANFIC NOVELLAS| |WATTPAD CREATORS PROGRAM · 5X FEATURED| Scooby-Doo and the Ghost of Ontario: When Freddie reads of hauntings at Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park in Ontario due to a mysterious lullaby, "Lucilla", he drags the gang on an unexpected canoe trip, where he's determined to prove that not only do ghosts exist but also that not every villain hides under a mask. Scooby-Doo and the Lightning Spirit: When the Thunderbird awakens in the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park, the Mystery Gang and their new friend Ihaan embark on a journey that tests everything they thought they knew about mysteries and the Ghost of Ontario. *** *Don't ask... LOL!* *FYI: These stories are based on a TV show, so expect a screenplay-like writing style.* *Main Tropes: Found family and angst with a happy ending.* *#SupportIndigenousVoices.* Main Achievements: 🏅 ONC 2025 Shortlist/Ambassador Pick! 🏅 Best New Fanfiction Shortlist! 🥉 3rd Place Overall in TEGSA 2025! 🏅 Ambys 2025 Shortlist!

A battle trading card company creates the ultimate battle game, and people of all ages flock to play the new, immersive game of monsters and tactics. When Charli finds her new game board and limited edition card set destroyed by bullies, a friend steps in to help her out. Only, he can only give her a beta test version of the battle board and a children's card set. With the inaugural battle competition set to begin, Charli must use her wits to make her weak card set work well enough to enter the competition, but she faces people with more experience, more cards and better battle boards. Can Charli make her way through the stages with only a children's card set and a basic battle board, or will the competition prove too much? An ONC novella, based on Prompt 67: "A trading card game company creates real-life versions of their creatures. What started as fun and games quickly spirals into something far more dangerous."

Faye Whitmore is putting the "rot" in "rotten." After losing everyone she loves in a sting by witch hunters, Faye sets out on a mission to get revenge. Operating under the "eye for an eye" motto, Faye goes after the hunters' children. Maybe they'll be a little more hesitant if the witch they want to kill is their own child. If only her plan actually worked...

Something strange has been happening at Whitmore College. For unknown reasons, students have been receiving powers on their 19th birthday. Maya always knew there was something different about her. As hard as she tried, she never quite seemed to fit in. She thought things would be different at Whitmore, but she was wrong. In a world where everyone around her has super powers, Maya finds herself powerless. Maya discovers an ancient prophecy about this individual without powers, and she finds out she is destined to save the university from evil forces. Will Maya and her supernatural friends succeed, or will she be known forever as the girl who is powerless? ***************************************************** Open Novella Contest prompt 24

The werewolves of Marrowbone Village are all dying...slowly. Excruciatingly. And unfortunately for the rest of the pack, the only wolf immune to the terrible plague-their last hope to find a cure-lies with the runt, Amelie. With time running out, Amelie desperately scours the surrounding forests, clinging to a fading fairytale in search of the one thing she knows can save her pack...a unicorn's horn. But one night Amelie finds Nia, the unicorn who might be her salvation... And her pack's ruin. *** 12. While hiking through a forest, you stumble upon a unicorn's horn. 85. A sickness descends upon your pack, and you're the only one immune. As the Alpha succumbs to the illness, it's up to you to find a cure before it's too late. A werewolf/unicorn shifter gxg romance.

On Noria, survival comes at a cost-one that can never be repaid. Seventeen-year-old Apollo Hovrick has spent his life trapped under ExoReach's rule, where every breath, every meal, and even birth and death come with a price. No one owns anything, and families sacrifice themselves to erase the crushing debt passed from one generation to the next. When Apollo discovers a girl outside the dome-a place deemed uninhabitable-his world shatters. Evyn's existence is impossible, yet she and her people thrive beyond the White Desert. As he unravels the truth about Noria, Apollo must decide: remain a cog in the system or risk everything for a life beyond the dome.

3. When the most powerful and evil wizard creates an army of metal warriors and casts them throughout the land, it's up to a group of retired heroes to save the day. Samantha Hansen (Haira) was a Nebraskan farm girl until she became The Chosen One in the lands of Driftwich and Everwoe. For a time she was a beloved hero, but after they beat the fearsome and demonic dragons, it turned out she didn't know enough about the people she saved to fit in. Her oldest companion-a young wizard named Brom-took on the name Majus and played the society he knew all too well into favoring him for kingship. He didn't mind if she became his queen or if she lived the life of a barbarian of the north, as long as she could serve as a reminder of past glory. At first, it was a forced retirement from saving the world when she turned 30. Then it was the realization that she was aging and her body was changing, in a land with no modernized healers. Healers were antiquated, few, and often vestal virgins like St. Murin. She quit her job as a figurehead right along with the title for hero to run off for the wild plains of the southeast. It was the only place that looked like an almost untouched Nebraska. Unfortunately, the rogue known as Ice followed her out and made his home close enough to be a nuisance. And he remained her only annoyance until the rustbuckets started building a train through her town, bringing the king's order to the wilds.

You and I are different. So different, so let's play a game. A game of colours. Sounds interesting, right? No? Okay. Well, the rules are simple: we have two colours - red and black. You'll paint me red because you love me and I will paint you black because I want you gone. Easy enough. Now, shall we begin? ✦⋆✧⋆✦ Maxine had only one freaking job to do. Act coy and innocent, retrieve information and destroy their opponent. But the future had other plans. Stupid plans that had something called love.

Magdalena "Maggie" Buroston is a powerful witch with equally powerful magic that allows her to see tbe laws of the universe. When an ancient archive is discovered by an unsuspecting group of Dwarf archaeologists, Maggie is sent to the site by the Supreme Court of Magical Activity in hopes of unearthing something beneficial to the magical community's law and order. But no one expects the Darkness to rise. Cover created in PicCollage and Image generated by Canva

**WATTYS 2025 HONOURABLE MENTION** Cas and Vish are best friends whose feelings run deep. Whilst Cas is clever, sporty, and on the brink of a bright future at university, Vish has no such prospects. A painfully shy artist, Vish's horizons end at his daily routine of pills, sensory issues and panicking parents. When they celebrate what could be their final summer together by painting wildlife and swimming at a secret wooded wetland hidden in the Fens, the lads awaken something ancient and sinister lurking in the water. A voice in Vish's head -- Charlie -- tempts him to spend longer and longer in the woods. When villagers begin to disappear and Vish becomes increasingly secretive and distant, Cas is convinced that Charlie intends to claim Vish, body and soul. Lies, heartbreak and obsession push their friendship to breaking point, but nothing will stop Cas from protecting Vish from Charlie's onslaught, not even a fight to the death. --- This book started life as an ONC 2025 prompt: 105. Your childhood imaginary friend who disappeared years ago returns - only this time they're real.