Opennovellacontest2023 Stories

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Two lovers. One is immortal, the other isn't. Aurelia is 1000 years old. A wish that saved her life as a baby turns out to be a never ending curse, as she watches her loved ones leave her, over and over again. Her solution? Give up long term relationships and never be hurt again - nice smiles and cute winks mean nothing but trouble. That proves to be difficult, however, when she meets one special soul and begins to question her 200 year old decision. ONC 2023 entry based on prompt #25: "If he smiled at you, he'll break your heart. If she winked at you, she'll rip you apart."

University professor Cora Glass may be an expert on the topic of red/green colorblindness, but when her walking red flag of an ex shows up on campus, is she smart enough to say no to a second chance? *** Three years ago, scientist Cora Glass met a stranger over cocktails in an airport hotel lobby. His name was Jamie Bowen: an irresistible charmer with a talent for impersonating men he'd never be - and the only man who ever succeeded in breaking Cora's heart. Their fiery relationship flamed out years ago, but forgetting about Jamie is a different story. Seeking a change of scenery, Cora accepts a junior faculty position at prestigious Wallingford University and throws herself into her research with single-minded focus. She couldn't be less interested in the campus gossip surrounding the hot new professor who just joined the English department. That is, until she sees him, and he turns out to be none other than... her ex? But the man who won her heart three years ago was a high school dropout, not a PhD. Jamie could only be at Wallingford now as an impostor - and Cora's determined not to let him drag her into whatever game he's playing. ONC 2023 Contest Prompts: 51. The problem with red flags is that I'm attracted to them. 63. A rivalry between two coworkers has unforeseen consequences. 6. Can we go back to the start when we were all strangers in the dark?

Eset is finally at peace. But for some, the war still isn't over and old grudges reveal long forgotten secrets.

Colin Creevy runs into Hermione Granger in Dijon, France after his first year as both of their families are there touring the place for their family vacations. He doesn't expect to find something strange in one of the photos he took the summer Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban. Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter. This is written for ONC, for prompt twenty-six, "As a tourist in a foreign country, you were just snapping pictures. Later that night you go through your camera roll and was shocked to your core when you saw what you caught on camera."

Cassie Nightingale left England years ago and finally came back. The memory modification Hermione Granger used on her parents is no longer needed. Pansy Parkinson attempts to fight the stigma of voicing the opinion they should hand The Boy Who Lived over to save their own lives right before the war ended. Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter or Good Witch. This is one of my ONC entries for this year. For this one I am using prompt fifteen, "Three women. Three secrets. Three tangled lives."

Entered into the Open Novella Contest 2023 | Shortlister! @OpenNovellaContest - Rules & Guidelines: https://www.wattpad.com/story/331351500 ©2023 E. S. Elias All Rights Reserved. Published to Wattpad 02.01.2023 Completed: 04.17.2023 Cover: Me Round 1 ✔ | 2,000 words ✔ Round 2 ✔ | 8,000 words ✔ Round 3 ✔ | 20,000 words ✔ LONGLIST ✔ | SHORTLIST ✔ City of Ember meets The Giver. For over a century, the world has been at war. There are very few who still remember what life was like above ground. I was born in the bunker, and I am very certain I will die here without ever setting eyes on the outside world. And that day might be soon. Rumors are circulating that the food supply is running low. The Government had hoped there would be enough for everyone to survive the war for 150 years. War news is broadcast through a secure radio signal. There is only one reporter the Bunker can count on to say the truth, until today. Clarissa Delgado has accused the Government of lying to us.

Open Novella contest 2023 (Prompts 73 and maybe 20?) What happened Maddie-Rose? Hundred of years ago Maddie-Rose was a powerful goddess, with the love of her life Oliver on her mind. One day her mother walks into her daughter's temple and finds her grandson alone with no sign of his parents. Now in the modern day, cousins Katie and Frankie will be going on a school trip. Along with Uncle Tom and Miss Adams.

Is he the greatest sorcerer that exists, or is he the biggest sham? *** Meet Aliath; the High Wizard of the Edvan empire as he searches for signs of the enemy within. He meets Hela, a mysterious girl who catches his attention. He later realizes that the enemy he sought was right beside him all along. And she has been tasked with one mission; his death! With war looming around, time is running out for Aliath. And he has a very important choice to make.

Sixteen-year-old Grace Williams has always been destined to a life in servitude. Born to poor parents, she has spent her life knowing that service is all she shall be able to achieve. Levi Edgeworth has no such fate. Even though he has everything he could ever wish for at his fingertips, he still wants more from life. During a chance meeting, the flip of a coin becomes the decider of their destiny and the two of them agree to follow a stream to uncover its end. Although a seemingly ordinary journey, Grace and Levi quickly find themselves trapped underground with no hope of rescue. Injured and imprisoned in darkness with only each other for company, they must find their own way out of the maze of tunnels before the crumbling walls collapse around them. Based on Prompt 5: 'Flip the coin and make a life choice with it. Two choices, one coin, and no turning back. Do you dare?' (C)Spruce_Goose

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."

No one likes Léon Verlaine. His classmates calls him a criminal, his family thinks he's weak. To make it all worse, he's awkward, shy and polite. The complete opposite of what a mobster's son should act like.

Music has a way to connect lonely souls. Follow Echo's journey to discovering who she truly is to the rhythm of a tape given to her by a one of a kind cab driver. And follow Dean on his journey to try to find the girl of his dreams through his music. Is she even real or was it just his imagination going wild? Let's find out. |✮| 𝗠𝘆 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗮 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘆 |✮|

Bernard heard other elves talk about finding true love. After living a thousand years he'd not found it, always waiting one more day knowing full well the odds were stacked against him. Disclaimer - I don't own 48 Christmas Wishes or The Santa Clause. This is written for ONC 2023 for prompt forty-three, "You waited a thousand years to find your true love, what's one more day?" 2/5/25 - Ambassador Pick for Fanfic for February 2025. 3/9/25 - Added to Fanfic's Crossover list.

ONC 2023 Shortlister & Nano Watt 2023 Shortlist Novella Inspired by the prompt: 28: Stumped on a history assignment, you stumble across a time machine that will bring you back to the time period you're studying. ↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹ It all began with an assignment... Why? Why did I pick Cleopatra?! All I wanted to do was to submit my History in English Literature assignment, so how is it I woke up in the time of Cleopatra VII? Not only that, I am Cleopatra. ↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹ After receiving a distressing text from her best friend, Thea finds herself in the location where he was meant to be working on a secret science project. However, upon arriving, she discovers that the project may have been more revolutionary than she realised. However, with great progress comes even greater betrayals and she finds herself stuck in a time she couldn't even formulate a simple essay on. ↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹↹ Started: 3 February 2023 Completed: 10 April 2023 Edited by: @TheRebeccaBlake NB: Word count excludes A/N and banners

For 11 years, Lydie Abbott has been followed by snakes. She's also been framed for murder by a pantheon of storied gods, chased by mobs crying witchcraft in the streets, and stalked by monstrosities made of stardust. And yet it always comes back to snakes. She never considered that that is what would be the biggest drawback of making a dark deal with a fallen god. Twelve lives in twelve years. That was the agreement she made with the Medicine Man the night she fled from the constellations. The night the Ecliptic known as the Wishgranter was murdered and Lydie was the one holding the poison goblet. The night she lost all hope in the gods that raised her and the mortals that refused to accept her. She doesn't know what she gave to the Medicine Man in exchange for revenge against the Ecliptic, but she knows that without meeting the love of her life she wouldn't have stopped killing when she did. And without the death of her wife she wouldn't have left it all behind. Now all Lydie wants is to retire and redeem herself for the life of darkness she lived before. That was what Gastown was supposed to be; a haven for demi-humans and mythical creatures lost between worlds. But trouble just seems to follow her like a slithering serpent, as the land she's built for herself is taken from underneath her feet by a devout and jaded man willing to do anything to uphold his beliefs. Trapped from all sides, a kind-hearted girl named Mae convinces Lydie to stop running and face her past. To clear her name once and for all and uncover who truly killed the Wishgranter all those years ago. Of course, neither one of them knew this would mean summoning an Ecliptic to earth; a haunting and unearthly creature known as Moonchild. ✧ ♒︎ ✧ † ✧ ☾ ✧ The murder of a god gone unsolved, a pact made with a harbinger of the apocalypse, and a town built on superstition on the verge of collapsing. Welcome mortals, to Moonchild.

From the moment she was born, Qwella had the gift of super hearing. Or a curse as she called it. She had to wear earmuffs at all times. She was terrified of crowds and the overwhelming number of voices she was forced to hear. But one voice stood out to her. It was of a boy singing. He sang sadly, as if crying for help. She couldn't pinpoint where exactly she heard this voice from, until she visited the Pit of Panah. It was the day of Coronation for King Merno, the late King Varallisuus' only son. It was also the day Qwella's life would change forever. ************************************ This story is written for ONC 2023. Prompt #38 used.

"We called them angels not necessarily because we believed them to be merciful but because back then we had decided they came from either Heaven or Hell, and devils at least bore some resemblance to humans." "These beings did not." ~ Once a month, the city at the end of the world is plagued by Dark Days-days wherein the sky goes black and the sun refuses to shine. Gray Barnes, a struggling university professor, has spent years studying the strange beings known as "angels" who appear during the Dark Days. They've never been harmful before, but Gray has reason to suspect that this coming Dark Day, the angel's intentions are far less innocent than they may seem. When an unexpected arrest disrupts Gray's plan to flee with their wife, they find themself trapped in the city during the Dark Day. And though they've spent years researching this phenomenon, nothing can prepare Gray for the day that awaits them. The city is dark. The angels are coming. The world is slated for change-and Gray can rely on the people around them, but for the first time, they're not so sure they can rely on themself.

40. Accidentally stuck in a place between life and death, you open a door that allowed the dead into the world of the living. Now you and the grim reaper have to pull each of those souls back.