Opennovellacontest Stories

When a cautious Formula One engineer crosses paths with a damaged comeback driver, she discovers that the most dangerous variable she should assess in the sport isn't speed-but attachment. ✦✦✦ Adriana Santos has always known her place on a championship-winning Formula One team is contingent. Excellence, she learned early, is not the same as security. She works in a role the paddock barely understands-simulating failures before they happen, answering 'what ifs' before they become 'what went wrong', and treating the car like a living thing whose future rests in her hands. Her work is quiet, precise, and easily erased the moment she becomes inconvenient. She is careful because she has to be. She knows Joshua Thomas long before she meets him: the driver who changed his name to fit in, the anomaly on a rival team forever tipped for titles. To Adriana, he's a reaction curve that never quite returned to baseline after last season's crash. His comeback is framed as resilience. Many are simply waiting to see him fail. They meet by accident, in a moment stripped of his usual extravagance and pretence. Adriana notices what she always notices-the face behind the mask, the way he laughs through failure like it doesn't frighten him. Adriana doesn't forget him, though. She keeps her distance but Joshua doesn't, and their reluctant friendship begins to bend into something riskier. And they both know exactly what it could cost them. ✦✦✦ ✦ Open Novella Contest 2026 | Prompts 24, 29, 30, 44 ᴄᴏᴘʏʀɪɢʜᴛ © 2026 ʙʏ ᴀᴜᴅʀᴇʏ ᴀʟʟ ʀɪɢʜᴛꜱ ʀᴇꜱᴇʀᴠᴇᴅ.

Under the cherry blossoms sits a nimble girl, her face sullen, and her eyes caved in. She was sitting by a gravestone, staring longingly towards where her mother was laid to rest. Guilt, regret and melancholy was all she could feel. Had she known her mother would pass away, she wouldn't have left her in hopes to pursue her dream as a light novel writer. Inspired by her mother's creativity and imagination, she also wanted to walk down the path her mother went. However, her visit to her mother's grave at the first sign of spring soon turned out to be an ordeal when a cherry blossom flower piqued her interest. One touch and she was now in a world where magical creatures walked on land. But, her role as the daughter of the greatest witch follows more troubles and challenges than she had ever anticipated. ------------ An open novella contest entry Main prompt: #2 Other prompts: #11

Ian has always had very vivid dreams that feel like memories. Seeing people she's never met before and even places she has never been to before. Her therapist told her that there are just dreams and not memories. She performances hypnosis to help her shut out her memories. But not all dreams have disappeared. The moment she arrives in a town called "Zoey." Upon her arrival, she continues to be mistaken for Anna. But the question is: Who is Anna?

HE JUST DOESN'T KNOW WHEN TO STOP After falling asleep to a video of the "nihilist penguin", Lian Min wakes at 3 a.m. to wet footprints and melting snow in his studio apartment in a country of perennial summer. On tracing the footprints to the corridor, he discovers a world in stasis where he is the only one who can still move. That's the least of his worries, however. Various flowers begin sprouting in his living room and the footprints change trails without warning, leading him to discover things about his neighbourhood that he never knew and perhaps should not know. Then the trail goes cold.

🏆 HONORABLE MENTION - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2026 🏆 To revive the fallen God of Spring, the God of Winter must journey to the sky's end with the God of Death, only to realize that bringing back Spring may cost him his own soul. ⋯⋯⋯ ❝ɴᴏᴛ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ɢᴏᴅꜱ ᴄᴀɴ ꜱᴀᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡɪᴄᴋᴇᴅ.❞ Muli, the God of Winter, is a threat. His touch brings death, and Xua, the God of Spring, learned this too late. With the Star of Spring gone, the mortal realm is trapped in an endless winter. To bring Xua back to life, Muli must reach the Edge of the Stars, and he cannot do it alone. With the help of Ansa, the elusive God of Death, Muli's journey through the seven kingdoms forces him to face his past, present, and future. As they approach the Edge of the Stars, the cost of their mission becomes clearer. To save a life, Muli must choose what he is willing to give up: his soul or the god he loves. The gates are open. The stars are watching. And Muli is about to discover the ultimate truth. ❝ɴᴏᴛ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ɢᴏᴅꜱ ᴄᴀɴ ꜱᴀᴠᴇ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ.❞ ˜"°•.˜"°•˜"°•.˜"°•˜"°•.˜"°• © 2026 (First Edition) [All graphics are made by @sardonictabby] 🏆 SHORTLIST - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2026 🏆 ROUND 2 & 3 WINNER - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2026 🏆 ROUND 2 AMBASSADOR PICK - OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2026

ALIEN AMONG US is a small-town sci-fi novella filled with humor, heart, friendship, and enough secrets to make you wonder what-or who-might be hiding in plain sight. ************************************************************************ 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

How do you find your future soulmate whom you have yet to meet? Better question; how do you find them within the week? Any ideas? All you know is that if you don't, you will lose them forever. So wouldn't you drop everything and try anything to find them? ONC Prompt: 90. You receive a voicemail from someone you love, recorded one hour after their confirmed death. Started: Feb 1, 2026 Ended: ~ Book Blurb/Author Notes can be found after the last current chapter ~ Cover created in Canva ***This book might contain occasional colorful language***

ONC2026 Short List/ Round 1 Embassadors Pick Summer Peterson and her best friend Whitney are both pulled into their unfinished script, a romanticized 1932 crime noir. In the script world Summer and Whitney are pulled apart. Though a series of accidents, Summer pulls an unconscious man into a shack. When he comes to he mistakenly thinks he's been kidnapped. He is none other than Sabastian Lorenzo the powerful Don of the Black Orchid Syndicate! So what does a frightened modern girl do when trapped in a 1932 crime word? She becomes a mafia boss herself! And she bootlegs too! Not whiskey, but modern movies turned into money making theater productions! She's not your average crime leader. And he's not your average villain. All Summer wants to do is find her friend Whitney and return home. Yet everytime she meets with Lorenzo, they cannot help but be drawn to each other. Romantic Comedy / Crime Noir / Meta‑Fiction

Eighteen-year-old Emily is having a challenging first week at university. Her flatmates are into parties when it's not really her jam, there's a thief in the flat whose favourite target is her milk, and all in all she's rather homesick. In the spirit of new beginnings, she agrees to go to gardening club with a new friend, only to find herself trapped inside a shed with only one way out - a door into a land that shouldn't, and soon probably won't, exist. Emily's only chance of getting home is to set out on a quest to save the stolen prince from his tower, in the far reaches of Minaria, Land of the Small Folk. But the world is on the edge of hopelessness, and the clock is ticking. If Emily doesn't fancy falling into oblivion then she should get a wriggle on. Prompt 1: You stumble across a mysterious door made entirely of briars and thorns. As you step through, you're granted extraordinary powers. But with great power comes great responsibility - it's now your duty to save a crumbling kingdom. Title and related quotes are from 'The Greater Celandine Fairy' by Cicely Mary Barker. Original fiction partially inspired by Alice in Wonderland and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. ⭐️ ONC 2025 Short List

There's a new god of stories in charge, and he's decided it's time to ditch the old stuff - no matter the cost. All that stands in the way of this literary apocalypse is an amateur author with a bad case of writer's block and a rookie librarian on her first day. There's a whole world of stories to be saved - if only they can survive them first.

When Benaiah Sullivan and Lelaina Ramos meet outside of a bar one night, their chemistry is instant. However, they're both in relationships, so they say goodbye and go separate ways, but life has a funny way of causing their lives to collide. So, they decide to be friends, but over time, unspoken feelings develop as they become each other's safe space. When obstacles arise with their romantic partners, their friendship also suffers with arguments fueled by confusion and unfed desire that pushes them apart on more than one occasion. But they always find their way back to each other. Like an imaginary thread, indefinitely tying them together. **When Harry Met Sally × People We Meet On Vacation** ONC Entry 2026, Prompt 24: Staying as friends feels safe, but that doesn't mean it's the path you're meant to take.

"The sky seems empty of the stars tonight," she mumbled, gazing at the sky. "Stop looking at the sky then." He said, coming closer. "Because they keep falling in your eyes." ________________________________ Violetta Evanston's plain and simple life takes a turn when she finds out that the person she trusts more than anything, the person who knows her more than anyone, the person whom she's been Penpals with, since years, is none other than THE KIM TAEHYUNG. Will she be able to protect her heart from the man whose dark, lethal gaze is enough to steal the heart of anyone he wants? ________________________________ [ONC 2020 LONGLIST] [ARMY AWARDS 2021 - 4th place winner in Taehyung Category]

When a young woman goes missing without a trace, the police write it off as another missing persons case. But her mother is not convinced... After the fallout from a corruption scandal forces the disbanding of her old unit, Elise Wu is transferred across the country to Corviston. She is paired with the grumpy, withdrawn Simon Brown, who she had worked with previously. Simon quickly becomes convinced that the mother is right in her instinct. A trail of clues leads to an unlikely path...

In the silk-producing valleys of the Kingdom of Naples, Renza, the daughter of a respected silk merchant, has been raised within the careful order of family and tradition. Lucien arrives as a restless outsider, marked by a past he cannot escape. Around them move others bound by secrecy and survival, including a spy for the Inquisition trained to live between two worlds. As tensions deepen and suspicion spreads through Silk County, their lives draw toward a tragic event history has nearly erased. Echoing the ancient myth of Galatea and Acis in a 16th century setting, Silk County explores how love endures in fragile and often dangerous spaces, where even the most delicate threads can bind souls across time. Content Note: This story contains references to non-graphic sexual situations. It also draws on historical accounts of the Inquisition, including themes of religious persecution and some chapters contain acts of violence. While these elements, as well as 16th century attitudes toward women, are handled with care, they reflect the realities of the period and may be difficult for some readers. They do not reflect this author's viewpoint.

× ONC Round 2 Ambassador Pick × Dorothea thought she had her life under control. Sure, she's not super rich and successful, and she doesn't have a gorgeous, loving partner by her side, but she's a barista in a local coffee shop who swore off of relationships, so she doesn't expect anything better. That is, until one short encounter at work flips her world upside down. Sofia Amaro has been Thea's number one weak spot since their high school days, but whatever they had ended five years ago. She left the town, and Thea moved on-or so she thought. When Sofia suddenly returns because of a work project, and a friendly round of drinks turns into a lot more than either of them had in mind, Thea is conflicted. She's a different person now. But Sofia is too, and she's not the same girl who strung her on for over a year. So when she tells Thea she wants to be more than friends now, Thea has to decide whether she's willing to take the risk once again. Perhaps some mistakes need to be made twice. ~ ❤️‍🩹 ~ Entry written for Open Novella Contest 2025 Prompts: 120, 121, 18 Genre(s): NA Literary/General Fiction PUBLISHED: 2/20/2025 COMPLETED: TBA

Regulus had had enough of the loud screaming matches between his mother and older brother as they left him with a headache while also preventing him from hiding. In what felt like sheer madness, he left the house unnoticed and found a Muggle library, a sanctuary from noises that would bother him as he tried to study. Of course, in his delight to find a quiet place to study, he forgot one important thing. Muggles. Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter. This is written for ONC 2023, prompt seventy-six, "You're poring over spellbook in the local library when a human discovers you."

Laufey Valerie had just broken off her engagement to one of the realm's most brilliant bachelors. On vacation in a little town known for its wonderful parks, where she reconnects with something she had thought lost. Together with her newfound 'companion' she crosses paths with twisted creatures called Discorn, that threaten the World's Harmony. She would come to discover a dark secret that will shake the foundations of her Rhythm magic. Cover by mysticariumch on IG Prompts 17. You fall in love with someone whose heartbeat matches a song you haven't heard since childhood 36. You are told to choose a weapon before battle but when you approach the table, the only weapons laid out are musical instruments. 45. "Kings have honour, soldiers are brave, poets have heart and all I have is rage!

Mrs. Z, the eternal Mother of the Zodiac. 12 Zodiac children run away through time... Chaos ensues. What happens..? *All Zodiacs represented are based on their characteristics, research, and the people in my life. All other information in Author's Note and Aesthetics Chapters.* (ONC LONGLIST 2025 🎉) (ONC SHORTLIST 2025 🥳) *CURRENTLY BEING EDITED OFF APP, FINAL EDITIONS WILL HOPEFULLY BE MADE AVAILABLE BY NOVEMBER 2025*

The last thing Maya wanted was to get caught up in a rivalry within the underground world. Mason, her childhood friend, was supposed to be the one she brought home. Not a crime lord with eyes too calm for a man in handcuffs. She didn't plan to start a war. She didn't plan to be hunted... And she definitely didn't plan to fall for him. But some disasters don't destroy you. Some look at you like you're the only thing in a burning room worth saving. And she's starting to realize... she might be his disaster too. #ONC26 #No. 51

To say Amare isn't from 'around here' would be the understatement of the century. But Cynthia Orvin doesn't quite know that yet - just as she doesn't know much about the story behind her parents' demise or why her mother's family seems to despise her. What she does know is that in her nearabout eighteen years of being, this is the first ever time she has found a friend. Maybe more than a friend. But Amare has come with a ton of secrets on his back - secrets that stand to both answer all of Cynthia's questions but also destroy the trust she has in him. ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ Lying curled up on the road before her, with nothing but his hands covering up his modesty, was a naked male. Her eyes involuntarily traced his muscled torso, the vast span of his dark olive to light brown skin which was coated with thick lumps of mud in places but seemed to carry no visible wounds. The ebony hair atop his head were coiled up in tight curls, as luscious as his thick eyebrows and the eyelashes fanned over his wide, curious eyes that housed the most brilliant cerulean irises she had ever seen. Given the youthful fullness to his cheeks and the vibrance of his coral lips, he looked not much older than her. Cynthia would have perused the individual longer, lost in her curiosity at his state, had he not cleared his throat to toss her out of her thoughts. His brow scrunched up and lips pursed down, before he opened his mouth with a sharply snapped, "I need to talk to a human." She stepped forward with a hand extended towards him. "Um. I am a human. Are you okay?" He looked her up and down, eyes brimming with amusement. Then very slowly shook his head. "No, you're not." What... on earth did that mean? ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ◾ ↪ 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 2022 | 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱◂