I think it’s almost there as they updated their profile to 2023 
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Nice!
Okay. Another idea - a spinoff from that cat episode of Sandman.
I’ll call it Sandman’s Cats.
Will I get lucky with the prompts?
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I loved waking up to the 2023 book up on the profile. It’s beautiful too!
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Me too! And I’m excited about them having round winners once again, as I think the lack of such accolades last year kinda affected the hype as no one got any wins until the very end.
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That would be nice, but I will be very specifically looking at not hoping to win anything this year because it seriously messed with my head last year.
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Yeah, I’m definitely not setting up any goals in that regard either because it has very much messed with my head as well. But I think certain stories getting a promo during each round will increase the engagement around the contest. Like people will check those stories out and get some insight into what it takes to do well. And I think it’s nice that they give authors small wins in that way, as those are hard to get by on Wattpad 
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Gosh, yeah… 100% agree.
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Only up to Rules and Guidelines so far… I want to see the prompts.
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Prompts are usually released on the first day of the contest unfortunately (because I want them too!). So I think we’ll have to wait until Feb 1st
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That’s February 1st. We have all the deadlines, that’s huge and on time, so yay!
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Yeah, but we know that I’m not much better with my patience than @JohnnyTuturro… If I’m better at that.
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This is why we should write an anthology, and link it all up at the end 
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I’d be tempted to write the word watermellon 20K times.
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It doesn’t take long.
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You can always do ideas round up to see which ones have best novella potential, with fast plot and no side plots, hammer out a few prelim outlines and covers, put some research on file etc. It’s always good prep before prompts.
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My today’s ONC blog post.
I waited a couple of days for excitement to settle because I hope to offer you a fresh outlook on what ONC can ALSO be or mean for you in terms of your growth as a writer.
One. There are always supporting characters or background scenes for your Main Character you can’t explore in your novel properly because they slow down the pacing or distract the reader from your main conflict. The Story Branches will hopefully come to Wattpad soon, so having an ONC novel you can integrate as such a branch into your book will be satisfying. Even if it doesn’t happen, giving this material a place to exist outside the story will benefit it, by making that character more alive/removing side-plots overload.
Two. ONC is not just a novella. It is essentially an expanded outline for a novel, a proof of concept, zeroing in on the main story line. Mark areas for expansion and exploration, mark the plot holes. Think about it as working on an outline without a stigma attached to working on your outline and sketching the strongest/brightest scenes for pleasure only, until they carry you to your bigger and better novel.
I hope this is interesting food for thought!
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I doubt Story Branches will ever be available for peasants like me, but I am tempted to do something like this as I have so many spinoff ideas for SLB. Perhaps one of those ideas will fit in with a prompt? (I also already got an overload of bonus scenes laying around that I don’t know what to do with)
Probably not the smartest idea to write (as my mind is constantly creating schemes of what is most marketable and can actually gain the ER needed for anyone at HQ to look at my stories) but I’m also getting kinda tired of writing strategically. ONC is an excellent opportunity to put your wackiest ideas to paper!
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Absolutely!
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I don’t think I’m good at estimating that, myself.
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