@_marmoris_
after "THE HEARTS OF WILD BEASTS" finally, "WHAT THE FLAMES CANNOT BURN" now has its first chapter, too! check them out if you want, and share your own entries here, so we can support each other.
https://www.wattpad.com/story/407415634-what-the-flames-cannot-burn-onc-2026
crazy me did it and published the introductions to two entries for this year's onc!
✒ WHAT THE FLAMES CANNOT BURN
another story set in lasow, during the heat of midsummer where a young girl searching for the magical fern flower has a fateful encounter with a rusalka
✒ THE HEARTS OF WILD BEASTS
a little play on russian fairytales about dragons, in which our protagonist cursed to have no magic at all finds a dragon in her garden who is said to eat women's hearts
are you participating? have you already posted your entry?
HOW THE SHADOWS FEAST made it to the Grand Favorites of the Amby Awards!
I'm so thankful and happy.
As for the ONC I'm pondering on too many possible entries at the moment, and am still quite conflicted.
@_marmoris_ As you know I'd love to read 4 from you and I can only encourage you to write two stories. ;D
@C_the_Dreamer It's really hard. As for now I feel 3 might not be developed enough for a novella that length. I'm most motivated for 1 and 4...and honestly wondet if I should try two entries after all :'D
@_marmoris_ So my pick would be 4 (of course), I really like your idea, it's not just the Prompt. ;D The second one would be 3. ^-^ Then 2 and 1 xD
it's onc season again, and oh boy am i conflicted what to write and if i even should participate (even though I definitely want to!)
are you participating this year? have you already found your perfect prompt? let me know!
@_marmoris_ I totally get that! That why specifically for the ONC I won't pick anything I have to research, that's my number one rule. I'll still research some things, but nothing grand like history things or I'll end up stuck in a rabbit hole. x'D
@C_the_Dreamer Technically, perhaps I could've finished more than one, too. But "Those Who Hunger" takes extensive research and that was just not possible. Plus, I feel like at some point quality might be suffer from the attempt, and I have so much other things to do as well ^^"
@_marmoris_ Yes, they do, but I'm rapidly going through my ideas and cutting some away. xD I get that. I know that I can finish 3 stories if I want to (last year it only didn't work with the third because it got too long because I focused on other characters too much and it was a slow slow romance x'D) But that doesn't mean everyone can or should. If I didn't like writing different stories so much and if there weren't so many challenges at the same time, I would focus on one story too. ^^"
THE WORDS WE BURN made it to the shortlist! I didn't expect this at all but I'm so happy this little project made it this far
THE WORDS WE BURN made it to the longlist!
honestly, i wasn't so sure about it and still don't know how far it will come. so, keep your fingers crossed it'll get on the shortlist as well!
as for the meantime: i'm already editing TWWB in the background, giving a few scenes more time to breathe and perhaps adding in a tiny subplot.
on the other hand, WHAT DEATH CANNOT TOUCH should soon be finished, and i also didn't forget THOSE WHO HUNGER which i want to finish as well. maybe one or more stories will make it to participate in the wattys. let's try. i'm motivated but for many reasons this motivation is fragile at the moment. wish me luck it sticks with me
@_marmoris_ @Chaoskuss I didn't know either how the Wattys work until recently, but there are books with all the informationen that really help! Look into "The Wattys 2025" and "Road to the Wattys 2025", you'll find them first thing in my reading lists too. ;D
@_marmoris_ <3 Yes, life just throws you around sometimes that when you finally have time to breathe, you are just too exhausted to read or need a comfort read, at least in my case. x'D It depends on my mind and mood though, sometimes I don't care at all if someone is brutally murdered orher times I get sick at the implication that something could happen, it's so weird. x'D
@C_the_Dreamer Thank you! And again, thank you so much. I know sometimes it can be hard to keep up with all the reading. And I totally get it might be to dark for you :)
THE WORDS WE BURN just got finished! And this year, surprisingly, I did very well with the deadline. No last minute submitting.
I'm not entirely happy with it, to be fair. So many things I wish I could've explored more in depth, and I honestly don't know how high my chances are with this one. Still, I enjoyed this journey which was again so different to those the last two years. In the not so easy times I currently face, this world has been an a safe haven—as paradoxically it sounds, thinking about TWWB's dark premise.
I'd love if you take a look at it, and share your thoughts. And I now finally have the time to read all your entries as well! <3
@_marmoris_ That's true, ypu're right. I was just thinking of the rounds, but it counts too xD That's a lot too! I wrote a little over 10K words (I think) for Playing Cupid too and a few thousand words for my german story, making it over 34K words in April alone too. That's way for than I expexted too xD Mine is far from perfect as well, but we did it and that's all that counts. ;D
@C_the_Dreamer Yes. I dropped out pretty quickly with story 3, but I started it so I'd say that counts a little :'D Same! I feel a very big chunk of the story was written in April alone. For me it was from 9k to 36k! I didn't expect I'd be able to write 27k in one month in English, even though it's far from perfect tbf ^^"
@_marmoris_ <3 But you only submitted two for the first round, right? That's what I meant xD Me neither, I really thought either both or Playing Cupid, that Touch Me, Mark Me grew so much in such a short time (from 10K to 27K in april) AND found an end, surprised me too xD
good news! i made it to round 3!
honestly, i'm still having a hard time with productivity at the moment, in well...every aspect of life. but i hope with the little break i have now that'll change. and to celebrate making it through round 2, here comes another chapter!
https://www.wattpad.com/1532189657-the-words-we-burn-onc-2025-v-allies-or-enemies
@LoveCatxO Answering way too late here: Thank you so much! I'm glad to hear you're feeling better ❤️
@_marmoris_ Of course—your health and personal life come first. I’m really sorry to hear that you haven’t been feeling well lately. I feel like I’m slowly getting past the worst of it, and things are getting a little better each day. I truly hope it’ll be the same for you very soon♥️ ✨Wishing you a speedy recovery and lots of inspiration!✨
new chapters of THOSE WHO HUNGER and THE WORDS WE BURN just dropped, and twwb even got submitted already for round 2!
i honestly don't think i'll be making it with twh. i'm exhausted, should be focusing on uni and my health at the moment. but don't worry: it will be continued and finished! (just most probably not for the onc)
how are your entries going?
@_marmoris_ It does, but we'll get trough the hard days, then better days follow ;D Thank you! <3
@_marmoris_ Some day's real life grabs and shakes me too though, it's not always that easy. But yeah, it's easier for me, being mostly my own boas apart from my parents xD I wish you the best for the next two weeks then, may they be productive and restful! ;D
updates are out now for THOSE WHO HUNGER and THE WORDS WE BURN! make sure to check them out!
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seriously, this year's onc is HARD. even harder than last year. my inspiration and motivation are fluctuating, always ready to throw me into my next writer's block. i'm still stuck with my old laptop which is so incredibly slow it doesn't make working easier. and then there's the background noise of new medication that affects my inspiration and uni work. but i'm trying very hard to make it!
how's onc going for you? (hopefully better than for me)
@_marmoris_ Not really actually, I didn't even read the whole part, but what I read was just very... detailed and shocking x'D Me too! ;D Hope it get's better! <3 I think "Husband Material" (the secon book of Boyfriend Material), I'm not entirely sure though. And I don't know what the other thought while writing that, it was just way to weird and confusing for me xD
@C_the_Dreamer ohh...was the thriller that dark or something? Sometimes even the expected can be shocking ^^" A love readers like this! Somewhat...but there is still some not so nice stuff I have to deal with :/ thank you! I'm glad it helped! Which book was that? It definitely sounds interesting and like there was an idea behind this
@_marmoris_ Hey! Your comparison with Ilya and Ulya gave me the perfect idea! "Jay" the friend is now called "Ray". xD And now I even have a "Sia" and a "Ria" in the story. xD Changing one letter is sometimes enough. ;D It could still be confusing, of course, but I don't think it'll be too bad. As long as the characters are different enough, it shouldn't be an issue xD I just remembered! I read a story once were two characters had the same name and where in a relationship together, but it was sooo confusing who was who. x'D