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!

Prompt #22 - Spring (new beginning, growth) Your book never found much success, but on a train ride you spot a stranger reading it with the biggest smile you've ever seen. Livia Moreau's forgotten novel *The Shadows of the Linden Tree* finds unexpected life when she notices a stranger on the train reading it with genuine joy. What begins as a chance encounter slowly rekindles her belief in her words-and in new possibilities. This is my first time participating in the Open Novella Contest and I'm so excited to share this story with you all! 🌱✨ #OpenNovellaContest2026 #ONC2026 #Contemporary #Romance #LiteraryFiction

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.

September 1806. The janissaries are advancing towards Istanbul, with an army raised by Rumelia ayans, and are threatening everything Nurcan, a witch serving as the defterdar of the Sihirsizler (non-magical) Irad-i Cedid, has worked for during the past twelve years. Fearing for her life, as the Sultan Selim III is about to sacrifice the Irad-i Cedid for internal peace, she flees to the forests of her native Trabzon Eyalet and leaves behind the Sublime Porte's instabiity. Note: This story is written for the 2026 Open Novella Contest, using the following prompts: 16: "And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul." (quote by John Muir) 78: You begin to realize that nothing is quite what it seems.

*Note: This is based off an old and discontinued story that had its outline scrapped and reworked to fit the prompts for the ONC. Essentially, a new book for this competition. Only the core concept, title and the protagonist's name are kept the same.* ----- A ribbon, a hair-clip, a pen, a notebook and a radio, held in the arms of a sixteen year old girl... ... It's been four hundred of years since The Rot ravaged the world and sent people downward with its decaying touch, four hundred years since humanity has inhaled even a breath of fresh air and twenty years since the first fifth-generation child was born in the shelters deep underground. And now, beneath the poisoned earth at the edge of the world, only six of them remain living in the last surviving shelter, the last surviving Lifelight illuminating a darkened board. For the rest were claimed by The Rot. Protected at all costs, older generations shields the worst of the consequences, the worst of the panic, but truth cannot be hidden forever. With increasing tensions and increasing crime, it becomes clear that there are only two outcomes: to die in strife or to die in silence. That is, until an inexplicable hope presents itself in the form of a radio transmission originating from the single most uninhabitable place on Earth, the surface. But it's too late, too late for most, other than the most protected, the youngest, the fifth generation. The waiting game is over and now it's a race against time. Before The Rot reaches them, before they run out of supplies, the handful of survivors must reach out and find the source of the transmission. From this, there are only two possible results: death or a secured future.

In a normal town with perfect people, it's difficult to fit in. At least if you're me. I'm Crystal, and I'm the most imperfect person there is, especially in this town where people think being true is the same as being imperfect. With all my flaws and insecurities waving in the air like flags. Wishing there was a way out of this messed up town, where I can be my true self, wouldn't that be perfect? Follow me as I wake up in another world where I'm chosen as one of ten contestants to compete for a spot at the princess academy. Will I finally belong somewhere? I hope so!

This space is created especially for writers participating in the Open Novella Contest 2026 Writing a novella is exciting... but also confusing, lonely, and full of self-doubt. ❤️ Is my story good enough? ❤️Is my opening strong? ❤️Will readers understand my characters? ❤️Am I even on the right track? You don't have to figure this out alone. This book club is a place where contestants can: ✔ Share their entries ✔ Get genuine reads ✔ Receive honest and helpful feedback ✔ Improve their chapters ✔ Support fellow writers Here, we don't compete. We grow together. If you are writing for the Open Novella Contest and want readers, reviews, and real feedback - this circle is for you. Let's help each other write better stories.

~A ROBERT IRWIN FANFICTION FOR WATTPADS 2026 ONC~ Having survived an accident that wiped your memory of everything but your celeb crush on Bryan Erwin (Robert Irwin), you find yourself alone in the town of Beerhwa after an unsuccessful trip to the Australia Zoo to see him. However, when you stumble upon a strange local magic shop, the witch seems to recognize you. Tempting you make an impulsive decision to buy an overpriced stone in the hope of regaining the memories she promises it will bring. But this stone brings more than just your memories of your past, for as soon as the old witch hands you the stone, your celebrity crush stumbles through the magic shop's doors as if he has been searching for you... instead of the other way around. With a single kiss, he brings back your memories of your past on a planet far, far away. Where you were tasked to search for the one who escaped to earth with your leader's prized "Eggs of Immorality", and remember the story of how you fell in love with that man's son and the world he cared so much for instead. Inspired by Prompt 41. You never imagined that one impulsive purchase from a magical shop would catapult you into the middle of an intergalactic conflict.

He's fighting battles everywhere. On the race track, in the board rooms, and his mind. Seems like he will lose one of them. Or all of them? __________________________________________ ONC 2026

Elijah Matthews was dating Adrian Skyler; that was well known, and everything seemed perfect. But one day at the carnival, it is revealed that Elijah will love two people-one will save him and the other will destroy him. Elijah eventually finds the new boy, Silas, the most perfect boy ever seen, and they begin to like each other. But as more and more signs point to the fact that Silas will eventually destroy him, Adrian starts getting more hot-tempered and secretive. But when the time comes, will Elijah be able to know which one to choose? This story is a part of the Open Novella Contest 2026 and is based on prompt #115. This story has a character from a culture that I do not know much about. If I have written their accent wrong, accidentally made the character too stereotypical, or anything else, please write to me in the comments immediately and it will be fixed as soon as I can!

I started seeing my dreams in real life. That was the first warning. The second was realizing the ending wasn't a nightmare anymore- it was already waiting for me.. For ONC 2026 Novella Contest

This story is a participation for ONC'26. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 𝐂𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐀𝐰𝐫𝐲𝐧 has spent her life being perfect. 𝐃𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐞 has spent his being blamed. They can't stand each other, and St. Aurelia's Academy is big enough for them to stay strangers-until a punishment sends them beneath the school, to a door that should never open. A legendary weapon lies waiting. It won't awaken for one heir alone. Forced into an impossible bond, Celeste and Dorian must learn to work together before the power between them turns into something far more dangerous than hate. Because some things don't choose one person. They choose two.

something I'm working on for ONC2026 using prompts 67 and 91.

This story is based on the prompt 1 and 11 of open novella consents 2026. Elizabeth Santiago is the great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great granddaughter of Rachel Franklin and William Santiago. While , Lucas Eliott or Elliotte is the great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandson of one of the trinity sisters. . Will they leave their egos , differences and eternal feud behind and working together or will their egos burned down their kingdoms. Find out more!!!!!!.

"Old crushes don't just disappear, Amari." Amari used to like him - the weird, funny boy her friends wouldn't stop shipping her with. It was a harmless crush, something she eventually outgrew and left behind. At least, that's what everyone thinks. What she doesn't know is that while she was moving on, he was quietly catching feelings of his own. He never said anything, never acted on it, never gave her a reason to notice. To her, it's just an old joke. To him, it's something he never managed to shake. But lately, things feel different. A look that lingers. A joke that hits deeper. A moment that shouldn't matter... but somehow does. And suddenly, the "old crush" she swears is dead doesn't feel so old anymore. Some things don't stay in the past. Some things come back when you least expect them. And this might be more than something old.

"I don't know how I'm back, but... I don't like what this means for Chaotic AND Perim." 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)

𖤓 Summer [Bold Choices, Long Days] 𖤓 "Kings have honor, soldiers are brave, poets have heart, and all I have is rage!" ~Naethan Apollo. One moment, you're a weapon. The next, you're a nanny. And somehow, the world ends in between. Two assassins from rival organizations are sent on the same classified mission-only to discover the assignment is hiding a truth big enough to shatter loyalties, rewrite destinies, and maybe doom humanity itself. Secrets unravel fast when curses bind enemies together, time refuses to move forward, and the last hope for the world turns out to be something no one wanted to trust. As summer stretches on, chaos follows: frozen cities, undead roads, magical bargains gone wrong, and a journey to the edge of the world where treasure isn't gold-but choice. Everyone else sees ordinary people, harmless faces, familiar smiles. But some truths can only be seen by those already broken enough to recognize monsters in disguise. This was supposed to be a normal summer. It wasn't. A story about rivalry, survival, and the dangerous things we become when everything we believed starts to burn. "We love broken, beautiful people. And it doesn't get more obviously broken and more classically beautiful than you." ~Taylor Jenkins Reid

2026 Leighyeann A. Mies All rights reserved An entry for the Open Novella Contest 2026 (prompts #49 and #57) After another poor figure with guys, party girl Ham Seoyeon decided it's time to try a different approach: to pursue someone who's the total opposite to her. Someone who prefers staying as far from the limelight as possible. Soon Duho is the perfect "target" for her: polite, charming and with a mysterious allure. He's amiable with almost everyone on campus. Seoyeon may think asking him out might not be as hard as she believes. There's a little problem, though. He can barely stand her...

With programming and witchcraft skills, two opposite girls attempt to solve their town's mystery. Olivia is a witch from a human family. Alazea is a human-by-choice from a witch bloodline. Five years ago, they basically switched lives. While they don't understand each other's choices, they have grown to like each other through tutoring lessons and class notes exchanges. When an artefact disappears from their town museum, they take the opportunity to prove to each other that their chosen path is the best. Will coding save the day? Or are potions a better alternative? And can they work together? ONC Prompt - (11) The daughter of the most powerful witch is nothing like her mother.