Well, I decided on doing a mix of prompts 25 and 33.
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I just want to shortlist…
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Yeah, that’s kinda what I want to do. I posted the start for one prompt and will try to stick with it, put it in clubs, promote it etc. But if the other one picks up steam off-line, I will post it later in February.
My main prompts is 45:
My second (maybe) story is 37:
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A story idea is starting to take shape.
What I’m missing is the goal. How am I going to end it? Does it have an ending for this set up?
I’m missing a piece of the premise, that’s the problem. Hmmm. Maybe that’s it? I’ll try to write a logline and see what ideas that gives me.
This one is very interesting but I’d be cautious of scope. It sounds like enough prompt for a series. 
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Here are all ONC 2023 prompts if you’d like to copy/paste.
Don’t ask me how.
Summary
- When a giant monster chases you, all you can do is throw a stick and hope they’d play fetch.
- One night you woke from the dead. For you, you were gone mere seconds, for the world you were gone almost a century. How will you navigate this new world?
- A group of high school students discovers they have the ability to enter and manipulate their own dreams, but as they use their powers for personal gain, they soon realize that their actions in the dream world have real-life consequences and must learn to control their powers before it’s too late.
- You are an archeologist working on a dig when you find a thick pane of glass. You dust the dirt away and see the inside of a massive bio-dome, hidden for too long. Only one organism is inside, and it was meant to be forgotten.
- Flip the coin and make a life choice with it. Two choices, one coin, and no turning back. Do you dare?
- Can we go back to the start when we were all strangers in the dark?
- You go to sort out your grandma’s house after she passed away. While clearing out the attic, you discover she may not have been the person she always let you believe she was and that she has played an important role in a historical event. Discover her story.
- You just moved to a new neighborhood and you hear the music of an ice cream truck coming down the street. As you and your family walk outside you notice all your neighbors rushing inside and locking their doors and windows.
- There’s an urban legend that’s been circulating for years about a taxi cab that doesn’t take you where you want to go, but where you need to go. One night, you stepped into this cab.
- You are working on a case and you suddenly come across a walkie-talkie that connects you to a detective from twenty years ago
- A new business opens in a small town. The townspeople are intrigued by what is being offered by the business owners, and soon the town and its people begin to behave in unusual ways.
- An evil sorcerer offers you an immense amount of power—but it comes with a price.
- You were at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and now you are running for your life!
- A 21st-century health professional finds themself in the mid-1300s, right in the middle of the black plague.
- Three women. Three secrets. Three tangled lives.
- The world did not end in a bang, or a whisper, but rather, one scream at a time.
- When your teacher calls you to their office, you realize they’re not quite human. Class is about to get interesting.
- You step through a magic portal thinking it’s the way back home, but what you find isn’t what you expected.
- You come back from holiday and find your best friend missing. You search desperately, but no one has any recollection of your friend ever existing. Eventually, you’re shipped off to an asylum, where you find your best friend, who claims the same thing happened to them but it was you that no one remembered.
- You finally build enough courage to talk to that cute someone you see every day on the bus. Their face turns dark as they respond “You shouldn’t be able to see me.”
- One dark and stormy night a family went missing, they left everything behind. All their belongings including phones, laptops, and cars. Nobody, not even the police could figure out what happened so the case goes unsolved for almost 10 years, that is until you receive an unknown call. You must figure out who did it, if the family is still alive, and how you will expose what happened.
- Reincarnated twins reunite to avenge their mysterious deaths in previous lives
- They were not real, everyone told me they were not real. But why are they here? Why are they trying to talk to me? Why are they calling me the ONE? Why are they staring at me like that?
- One night you hear a voice coming out of your closet in your room. When you want to look into it, you get sucked into another world.
- “If he smiled at you, he’ll break your heart. If she winked at you, she’ll rip you apart.”
- 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.
- Being the last High Grand Witch/Wizard, it is your duty to protect your kind but when your soul mate is your enemy’s loyal general, you are forced to choose between your purpose and your love while the war between the two kinds worsens.
- Stumped on a history assignment, you stumble across a time machine that will bring you back to the time period you’re studying.
- When you touch a mirror, it ripples like water. You dive in.
- You purchase a new home and during renovations and discover a human skeleton buried within your walls.
- As an antiquarian, you frequent auctions as much as possible to grow your collection. After a mysterious invitation was sent to you about an underground auction, you were hoping for a usual win only to find that the items are otherworldly and the stuff of dreams – and the most dangerous item was sold to the last person that should have it.
- Your character awakens to discover a dead body in the bed next to them and a duffel bag stuffed full of cash on the floor… But the scariest thing is, they have no memory of what happened, or even who they are.
- They had their arrow aimed at their target’s back, a perfect shot despite the crowded ballroom. Taking a deep, steadying breath, they pulled the bowstring taut and prepared to let the arrow fly. But then their target turned and looked directly at them, finding them in the eaves as if they’d known they were there all along. The target winked.
- While waiting for a friend at a coffee shop, a strange thought crosses your mind: ‘What if I’m the only one who can’t read minds?’ Glass shatters and when it suddenly becomes quiet you turn around. Everyone is staring at you with terrifying looks in their eyes.
- Some things trigger hazy visuals to appear in front of your eyes. Slowly you discover they are glimpses of your past life where you were murdered in cold blood and you get the taste of betrayal every time.
- You are the Beta of your werewolf pack. Your Alpha has become severely ill, and you learn they met their mate 7 years ago but have been separated ever since.
- You discover that you can alter historical events by simply changing words in your second-hand high school textbook. This discovery leads you on your journey to literally rewrite history. You’ve decided that you nearly figured out world peace until you change something minor and just like that, your entire city is a heap of rubble around you. Worse still, the book has disappeared.
- A seemingly bottomless pit was found, for which the depth can’t be determined. Over time, scores of people began using it to illegally dump trash. Many have jumped believing that they’ll find life’s answers within it. Today, we learn the truth about the hole.
- On a blind date with a complete mismatch, you’re increasingly uncomfortable but too polite to leave. Then an attractive stranger comes over and gives you an out.
- 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.
- On different sides of good and evil, two friends promise to give up something precious for a year. If one or the other loses, dire consequences await.
- The hero finally gets an opportunity for revenge but it comes at the cost of something meaningful to them.
- You have waited a thousand years to find your true love, what’s one more day?
- Music is the bridge that can join together people regardless of their differences. Connect your diverse characters through their love of music.
- You call me up again just to break me like a promise, so casually cruel in the name of being honest. —Taylor Swift
- You involuntarily leap through spacetime temporarily taking the place of other people to correct their unfortunate mistakes.
- You had a dispute with a cyberbully/keyboard warrior on social media. So you decided to step up and track down the account to confront. But you were shocked when you discovered who the person(s) is/are.
- When you swab your cheek for Discover Your Ancestry, you joke about uncovering some dark ancestral scandal. The last thing you expects is to discover a half-sibling you didn’t know existed. Suddenly, everything about your loving family is drawn into question.
- “Master the rules of the game until you can play it better than they can.” Michael Scott, “The Sorceress.”
- An attractive, mysterious stranger moves to your small town. While everyone is desperate to make an impression, only you notice something a bit odd about them.
- The problem with red flags is that I’m attracted to them.
- There is someone you dream about every night, but you never imagine meeting them in real life.
- A team of scientists unmanned submarine dives into the deepest areas of the Atlantic Ocean. The video feed cuts as they reach low depths, but not before it freezes on what is clearly a city underwater.
- As townspeople are overcome with a deadly sickness, it’s up to you, the only one not afflicted, to find the cause and cure.
- Since you’ve been going out for quite some time, your love arranges for you to meet their parents. When you get to their house and you enter the front door, you hear them say “I’m sorry” as the door closes behind you.
- You are on a typical awkward elevator ride with a group of other people, and suddenly someone says “so, I bet you are wondering why I’ve gathered you here” before hitting the emergency stop button.
- Unknown to everyone, you are battling a life-threatening condition. With only a couple of weeks to live, you help your friend get the partner of their dream, except they are in love with you.
- In an effort to bring back their dead partner, a scientist makes a time machine except it ends up taking him to the future where they meet their partner’s doppelganger
- The year is 2042. The first astronauts landed on mars. They find a cave with a single human skeleton and four words written on the wall.
- A military Soldier falls down the rabbit hole to land in ancient times. The only way they can get back to the present is by helping the Vikings win the war.
- A new neighbor comes to town. Not a very social person, they hide out in their house every day, only leaving through tinted cars. Then, one night when you are going out, you look straight into the face of your idol.
- Hell is empty and all the devils are here. - William Shakespeare
- A rivalry between two coworkers has unforeseen consequences.
- You come from the first bloodline that has produced powerful magicians for centuries to keep the world safe. So what does it mean when you, the xxth descendant are born with the power to nullify the magic?
- You’ve finally done it: You’re standing on the summit of Mount Everest. Then the ground begins to crumble beneath you.
- When you went to sleep on August 31st, everything was normal. Today you woke up, it’s October 31st, and every person and animal is gone without a trace, except for you, your next-door neighbor who seems to be equally confused about the time-lapse, and a pet you saw die three years ago. The three of you team up for one purpose: find out what happened in September.
- The war had been going on for over 100 years now. Not that you’d ever seen it, living in a bunker your entire life. But one day, a news war reporter suddenly says, “I can’t do this anymore. Everything is fine! They’re lying! Th–” And the signal cuts out.
- You have been driving down a long, winding road looking for something, but it hasn’t appeared. Did you take a wrong turn somewhere? Should you turn back? Suddenly, you are stopped on the road, and you soon realize there is no turning back.
- I had a marvelous time ruining everything. —Taylor Swift
- What if the Freaky Friday trick happened to you? You wake up one day in the body of someone else…from another time.
- After discovering a precious but dangerous artifact, you become an instant celebrity. But things begin to happen that make you wish you had never discovered it.
- On the twilight of their sixteenth birthday, a shy bookworm escapes their surprise party to find refuge in their favorite library. While walking through the shelves in search of a good read, they stumble onto a peculiar book that changes their life.
- You are a long-forgotten god. A small kid leaves candy at your shrine, and you awaken. Now, you must do everything to protect your High Priest/Priestess, the kid, and their entire kindergarten class, your worshippers.
- You have an ATM that gives you the exact amount of money you need to survive for the day. how you spend it is your choice. Today you are given $70,000,000.
- You have a family heirloom, it’s been passed way long before anyone can remember. You inherited this object and discover its secret. This secret will twist your life and change it forever.
- You’re poring over spellbooks in the local library when a human discovers you
- A teenager goes to sleep the night before prom and wakes up 20 years later in their bedroom. They roam their house for their parents and find no one. Feeling alone and unable to understand what’s happened, they find themself going door to door asking for help – nobody answers. Finally, they reach the last house on their street and are ready to give up until someone opens the door…
- If it gets dark once a month, then come the angels to town. What if these angels are not innocent ones and only are here to destroy the world?
- You are the attendant to one of the Zodiacs. When your Zodiac is mysteriously killed, you are the first one everyone suspects. Forced on the run, avoiding the Zodiacs prove difficult. But when you find evidence at another Zodiac killed yours, will everyone believe you or will they kill you?
- For decades, monsters have been able to hide away from human eyes. But when humans discover the monsters, they decide to organize a peaceful unity and send an ambassador (you). Can humans and monsters co-exist peacefully or will the unity fall?
- In a dystopian world where technology controls every aspect of life, a group of rebels must navigate through a virtual reality landscape to hack into the mainframe and take back control from the oppressive government.
- In a future where humans have the ability to upload their consciousness into virtual reality at the time of their death, a detective must solve a murder case in both the virtual and physical world as the victim’s consciousness may still exist in the virtual world and hold the key to solving the crime.
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I won’t participate this year (don’t have the time, sadly) but I did create a new reading list for ONC entries I find 
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I didn’t find a prompt that fit my initial novella idea, sadly since I was all ready to go with that story! But I did get an idea for another story with this one:
9. There’s an urban legend that’s been circulating for years about a taxi cab that doesn’t take you where you want to go, but where you need to go. One night, you stepped into this cab.
I might do a sequel to Steady Ground using it. Just a short extended epilogue-like thing that I will try my best at making a Standalone. I’ve never completed a sequel before so this might be fun :'D I think I’m going to post it tonight and commit to the idea, since it’s my strongest and I have a pretty clear idea of how I want the inciting incident to go.
I’m loving everyone’s ideas so far, btw. These all seem so interesting!
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Well, I have nearly 800 words of word vomit. Aka what I call the ideas that come to mind but need to be shaped before I put them in my outline.
I’m honestly unsure if I have enough for a novella but I’m going to share what I have with my discord group and see if they can catch anything that I’m missing because I know I’m missing stuff.
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The way I wrote it, the prompt fits in chapter 1. it does an amazing job of making my abandoned historic mystery interesting. Well, at least to me. It may be really on the nose, but it is a novella. If they judge it ‘not acceptable’ I would understand.
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So far my strongest feelings are towards this one. But I’m going to ignore the “courage to talk to that cute someone”. I just want to write it with “You shouldn’t be able to see me” prompt.
It will fit great as a quick sequel to my 2021 ONC.
I asked in the ONC book if it’s okay to modify it that way. If they don’t respond or say no (though I’m guessing they’ll say yes), I can add a bus to the equation to make it resemble the prompt more but I’d rather not be forced to since my initial idea of where this would happen sounds better than a bus. 
This one would also fit well as a sequel though I don’t feel as strongly about it. For the one above, I have an idea for a really fun character that makes me want to dive right in.
Hmmmmm.
And now I got an idea of combining them into a different type of story. Curious, curious. I’ll give this a think.
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I really don’t care if I get shortlisted or not, I am just looking to write something and finish it. And feel that sense of accomplishment once again.
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Honestly, same. Like, getting listed would be super great, but I want to just enjoy the story and see what comes of it x3
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Help me choose, please
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52 There is someone you dream about every night, but you never imagine meeting them in real life.
Whelp 1K into this… So, another 1K tomorrow and time to test another prompt.
Slapped a freaky probably temp cover on it for now:
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Yeah, I think that more people should be like that, to be honest. It is a time to experiment, have fun and see what comes of it. We’re not meant to be planning and pitching a novel at this stage.
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We’re working on the same prompts! I can’t wait to read the story/ies you come up with.
I hope we’re allowed to modify the prompts because mine also doesn’t happen in the bus. In the second prompt the one who actually opens the portal is someone my main character is supposed to help, so I hope it’s fine to use the prompt this way too.
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That is really cool. Great minds think alike!
Did you post your book yet? Let me know so I can add it to my reading list.
In the past they’ve been pretty lenient, allowing everyone to change the prompts.
But I got an answer
Hello, it doesn’t have to be on a bus! Although, please stay true to the character building up the courage to talk to the stranger who they see often that they weren’t supposed to be able to see. Hope this helps!
I asked a follow up question because this is exactly the part I want to cut out of the prompt. But even if they get stubborn about it, I’ll use #40 as my main prompt. I’m not using a portal but a literal door. My MC won’t be “stuck” though. But there will be ghosts and a Grim Reaper and a third party - that’s the best part.
I have a lot of work to do to figure it all out.
I was really bummed because I wrote an awesome blurb but then I realized that I don’t actually know yet how far the plot will go and this blurb might essentially be describing 80% of the plot. Possibly. I don’t know! So I had to cut all the best stuff out and just left it at one sentence for now.
But at least it’s a little more concrete than “Mystery project” 
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Not yet, but I’ll post it later today. In the meantime I’ll follow you to receive a notification once you post yours.
I hope you have a positive response because I also plan on leaving that part out. My MC will see that person for the first time and will gain the courage to talk to him out of concern because he dresses funny and has a weapon. She’s shy, so talking to that stranger is already a big step for her, so I wonder if that works as a character build for the prompt. I hope it’s fine 
Same here! I’m using that prompt as my main. The coincidence 
A literal door, anyone could open it. That sounds intriguing, I can’t wait to read what sort of adventures the MC will dive into. I’m itching to read it already.
Aww, I can’t imagine how difficult it is to cut down the best bits of an awesome blurb. But I’m sure you’ll come up with a better one. I just hope you didn’t completely delete the parts you cut down and saved them in your notes for future reference 
At least something is developing.
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How do you do ONC as a pantser?
The grammar and technical stuff is part of the judging bit, right? I’m afraid if I write a first draft type of thing (and don’t have time to edit, assuming) I won’t be able to give them the best?
Am I thinking too much? Should I just do it and see?
Also, as long as it’s a standalone, can you submit a book that takes place in the same world as your other books?
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I am a panster 100% and it does worry me a bit how it will affect my progress in ONC. I plan to just write as much as I can by the last week in February that way I have a better idea where the story is going to write my blurb. I thought of the beginning and the end but the middle… for the life of me I can’t outline… I need to write and see my characters take shape. Once you can see the end you will probably be okay with ONC.
Yes you can submit a book that takes place in the same world as your other books but it has to read as though it’s an only book for those who never read your other works.
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