Novella 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!

Professor Edward Keane has spent his life teaching literature at Havenbrook University. When his student, Tiana Henderson, asks him to review her mystery manuscript, he agrees without hesitation. As Edward reads through the draft, certain details begin to feel uncomfortably familiar, blurring the line between imagination and reality. What begins as a simple review soon becomes something Edward cannot ignore. *** THE FINAL DRAFT: STORIES DON'T FORGET THEIR AUTHORS #OpenNovellaContest2026 #ONC2026 Prompt #109

She wakes with missing hours, a burning imprint carved into her shoulder, and no memory of who put it there. Nyxara Blackvein is an assassin who survives by control. Control over her body. Her blades. Her choices. But the mark beneath her skin has a will of its own, pulling her toward Stillreach-a city protected by an impossible shield and a power no one dares to name. Torin Cross was never part of the plan. A half-elf bard with a charming smile and secrets of his own, he's headed in the same direction for reasons that don't quite add up. When violence forces them to fight side by side, trust forms before either of them is ready for it. Whatever waits in Stillreach is already watching. ONC 2026 Prompts used. 32. Two assassins from rival organizations are sent on the same secret mission, only to realize the assignment holds a much bigger truth. 86. A wasteland hides pockets of thriving communities protected by mysterious shields. 99. You wake up with a strange mark on your skin after a late-night encounter you can barely remember, and its meaning grows more unsettling by the hour.

[COMPLETE ON PATREON] The not-so-small town of Love Lake is having a devil of a year. The lake itself is running drought-dry, hailstorms keep taking issue with good folks' shingles, and disease runs its fingers through the surrounding croplands. Even the night stars look melted in the heat. Many wallets are tight, and summer celebrations promise to be a subdued affair. Most students at Love Lake High are bored half to tears in their final weeks of class, watching their erasers melt on the windowsills and taking bets on which room of the school gets hot enough to burn paper. So when Jean Williams is first to spot a shadow at the bottom of the lake, it's no wonder the news spreads fast. Over the coming days, all eyes are on the water as it pulls back from an honest-to-god building. On the lakebed. Still standing, like the fish maintain it or something. Entertainment's hard to come by when it's too hot out to play ball, so the moment school is out, the popular kids are the first to propose exploring Love Lake's own mysterious ruin. Dante Moore is part of the team, though he wonders if he's most useful as bait. But he's not near the top of the class for nothing, and he's the first to suspect there's something more still lurking at the bottom of Love Lake... and that it ain't gonna stay under the lake for long. ❖❖❖ Complete on Patreon. Entry in Wattpad's 2021 Open Novella Contest. Longlisted. Complete. Comments and critiques are both welcome and appreciated. I write characters from many different backgrounds, with many different experiences. If you share those traits and find that I have misrepresented anything, please let me know! I am feedback-friendly and here to learn :)

A fantasy novella following twelve-year-old Zakiné, who lives with his winged tribe, the Thra'ef, high atop Cynn-the Hand of Lair, the tallest mountain in all of Eshio. Secluded from the world below, the Thra'ef rarely leave their summit home, except by flight. On the winter solstice, Zakiné's uncle descends the mountain to gather supplies from a distant town, as he has done many times before. But when a sudden snowstorm sweeps across the peak, he does not return. And something about the silence that follows feels wrong.

In a world where humans reproduce by cloning, one girl must protect her secret -- that she's the last naturally born human being. Felicity Ponce grew up thinking that she was a clone just like everyone else. However, after a random genetic code test was conducted, she begins to realize that nothing is what it seems and her world changes drastically. Now tasked with keeping this secret, she must find a way to avoid getting caught by government officials, find reliable allies, and understand what it means to be a unique individual. But, hey, what else could go wrong?

A 90s College Romance Indu Mathur was new to Delhi, and to everything that came with it. A new city, a new college, and a life she had only ever imagined from afar. Pursuing English literature, she found comfort in books, poetry, and quiet corners of the campus. Varun Yagnik was different. Calm, observant, and quietly present in everyone's lives, he was the kind of person people leaned on without even realizing it. He didn't speak much, didn't interfere, but he was always there. Indu never planned on falling in love. Yet somehow, she found herself with a silent crush on the college heartthrob, someone completely out of her world. And Varun? Varun knew. He knew about her feelings. He knew about his best friend.

When a Phoenix Queen of Heaven must decide between two human lovers, one of whom is destined to destroy her, sparks will fly! #ONC2026 Round One Winner! 13,000+ words and counting. Based on prompt 115: a prophecy claims that you will love two people. One destined to save your life and the other destined to destroy it. The trouble is, you have no idea which is which.

[COMPLETE ON PATREON] Fear preys on people's minds when the living no longer outnumber the dead. The city of Old Saint Boniface has a ghost problem. The ghosts have never harmed anyone, but paranoia's economic toll has brought the city to its knees and gotten a succession of mayors elected on promises to control the spread. Janine lives in a part of town more abandoned than inhabited, and has worked a waitressing job at a derelict restaurant for the better part of a decade. Her will to reach for more is gone: each day is reduced to a blur broken only by the fresh air of the street, the old woman who dances beneath the bell tower, and the silent company of the ghosts that walk to and fro, just as they did when living. Janine is not the only one who can see them. But she is one of the few who doesn't care. Janine is there the day the police take the dancing old woman away. But that night, that same woman shows up at her door. She claims to know things about the city's ghosts, and why no one can stop their spread. She asks Janine for a hand in figuring out why Old Saint Boniface's dead can't seem to find rest - before those that have been wandering for too long turn dangerous. ❖❖❖ Trigger Warning: This book contains strong themes and experiences of depression. Complete on Patreon. Entry in Wattpad's 2021 Open Novella Contest. Round II Winner (second place). Round II Ambassador Pick. Longlisted. Complete. Comments and critiques are both welcome and appreciated. I write characters from many different backgrounds, with many different experiences. If you share those traits and find that I have misrepresented anything, please let me know! I am feedback-friendly and here to learn :)

Life does not always follow the current envisioned in youth. But when opportunity arises a young couple seizes it. Working in historical restoration, he gets the chance to work on a beloved small-town lighthouse. As a marine biologist, she sees this as the perfect chance to start some research and teaching. Still, the folly of youth often overlooks the warnings from the elderly and experienced. What will they do when the water runs gray?

Mystery love letters don't just land in school lockers on their own. ⋆☆⋆ When Elsey Dayton starts receiving paper planes in her school locker, she seeks out to find who the sender is with the help of the shy boy who works at the local diner. ⋆☆⋆ [ weekly updates ] [© ataliass 2026 ]

Summer Peterson and her best friend Whitney are both pulled into her unfinished script, a romanticized 1932 crime noir. All she wants is to find Whitney and escape, but instead she accidentally becomes the boss of a fledgling syndicate, adopts three loyal misfits, and starts bootlegging modern movies in a rundown theater to get her friend's attention. Unfortunately, her rising fame catches the eye of two dangerous men: Sebastian Lorenzo, the feared mob boss she once dragged unconscious into an abandoned house (long story), and Henry Glover, the city's most upright federal agent, who sees Summer as the key to bringing down every syndicate in town. Both men are drawn to the mysterious "White Tiger Lady." Summer just wants to find her friend and go home. But what happens when the script's villain isn't as heartless as he seems, and the world starts rewriting itself around her? Romantic Comedy / Crime Noir / Meta‑Fiction

What would you do if you woke up one day to find the whole world frozen? Every person, car, plant, animal - birds suspended mid flight, people mid step, cars at a complete standstill on usually busy highways. When Nate wakes up in a seemingly ordinary Tuesday he is met with these scenes of complete confusion. He is left alone to question why only he can move? Why the planet is on pause all of a sudden? And how it can be fixed?

She agreed to marry her enemy to end a war. Now she's trapped in a tower with him... and the only way out requires a kiss. The problem? They hate each other. And they might mean it. (Note: This novella is based on the prompt no. 40 of the Open Novella Contest) ROUND 1 AND 2 QUALIFIER 😭 dear god the SUSPENSE almost killed me ngl BUT heeeeeeere we go again!!!!!

A confession A strange shop Seven chances to relive the past But some memories aren't meant to stay.

In a dystopian future, an acidic flood reigns and the only signs of old life lie in the deep. Alex - an outcast with an inquisitive mind and a set of strangely specific skills - must navigate a world where she is shunned from the safety of the domes and stuck in the water. One day, while exploring a set of deep-sea ruins, she is haunted by a mysterious spirit; a spirit that seems to be warning her of something. The problem is, this ancient being doesn't seem to have any memory of its previous life. With a newly-possessed fish at her side, she must now uncover a secret organisation, find out what it means to do and save both humans and spirits from their plans. --- This is my entry for the Open Novella Contest 2026. Prompts used: 93, 86 (I have listed them in the author's note) --- Round 3 Qualifier for the ONC 2026. #1 oceanpunk | 19/2/26, 7/4/26 #1 explorer | 19/2/26 #1 deepsea | 23/2/26 #1 flood | 10/3/26, 7/4/26 #1 climatechange | 30/3/26 #2 acid | 10/3/26 --- © 2026 | This is original work. Any references to other persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Please do not adapt in any way without the author's permission.

Two assassins. Two rival factions. One mission neither expected. Andra Vaas follows every Covenant contract to the letter-blood, ink, and discipline are her world. Kreed Arden trusts no one, not even himself, and bends every Syndicate rule to survive. When their targets collide at a glittering diplomatic gala, instinct and memory tug them together before they've even realized the stakes. Trust is forbidden, yet survival demands cooperation, and every glance, every calculated move, ignites a tension neither can ignore. In a world of binding contracts and erased memories, some rules are meant to be broken, and some connections refuse to fade. -ONC 2026- Prompt 32. Two assassins from rival organizations are sent on the same secret mission, only to realize the assignment hides a much bigger truth ROUND 1 ✅

❖ ''We're at six thousand feet, Cap'n. There shouldn't be land at six thousand feet.'' ❖ Rav is apprenticed by his father's wishes on an airship as unsettling as the deliveries it makes. Dreamcatcher's owner is the only captain on the continent who will sail any cargo through any part of the sky. Even parts nobody else will go. So when the ship gets caught in a storm and left rudderless in the Khaalee Navachandr, a ship-eating crescent in the middle of the ocean, nobody is coming to rescue them. Their only hope is to reach land to make repairs. The land they find, though, might only bring more trouble. ❖❖❖ Entry in Wattpad's 2020 Open Novella Contest. Shortlisted. Honorable Mention: Stunning Worlds. Complete. Comments and critiques are both welcome and appreciated. I write characters from many different backgrounds, with many different experiences. If you share those traits and find that I have misrepresented anything, please let me know! I am feedback-friendly and here to learn :) Proudly Featured On: @Adventure - Voyages and Sea Epics @Fantasy - Magical Realism @FreeThePOC - Short Story/Poetry @HighFantasy - Davy Jones' Locker (Pirates and the Sea) @Magic - Magically Thrilling/Unexpected @StoriesUndiscovered - Explore the Stars @YASciFantasy - Quests & Queens (Fantasy Adventure)

A forgotten amulet. A whisper of fate. A princess it commands, but at what cost? Maela, princess of the Seelie Court, can't sit through court affairs to save her life. To avoid another royal meeting, she takes a new path through the forest, stumbling upon ancient ruins. The secret within their shattered walls sets her on a path she must find the answer to--before it's too late. Main prompt: ~ 93. Buried beneath the ruins lies an artifact that whispers memories of an ancient being. The first memory it reveals is a warning and it's meant for you. Sub prompts: ~ 16. =And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul= Quote by John Muir ~ 11. The daughter of the most powerful witch(changed to Fae) is nothing like her mother. ~ 104. While wandering in the woods, you dismiss the rustling behind you as nothing more that wind through the trees until you turn around and realize it isn't the wind at all.

Ivy finds herself dating a series of men to get her through the years to pay for college. Using a collection of wigs, disguises and accents, she becomes the girl you do desire. Ivy spends her college days floating between the library of her it's halls and attending some of the most exclusive parties. With a glass in hand, a winning smile, and her trusted high-heeled shoes, it is not surprised that she does so well. She has one rule when it comes to the clients: no matter how much they offer and how many times they ask, under no circumstances should there be sex, but when she begins to blur her real life and job, she finds herself on the verge of breaking that rule.