Whether it's your first time or your sixth time, writing a novella in 12 weeks isn't easy.
As a 2021 ONC Winner and 2023 Honorable Mention, I would know. After years of participation and reflection, I have lots of advice to share on how I did it. In...
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Hello, all.
This an upsetting thing to talk about, because I, like so many of you, was excited to join the 2022 ONC this year. Now, I am rethinking it entirely because of a few sentences that were not included in last year's legal stuff/rules.
In the 2022 ONC Guidebook, this passage was published near the bottom of the "Official Rules" section:
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You can understand the amount of outrage surrounding this paragraph in the sheer number of comments. If you don't know too much legal speak, AndiJ37 was kind enough to explain what this means.
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Moral rights "protect the personal and reputational, rather than purely monetary, value of a work to its creator."
The fact is that if you win, you have to sign over all the rights to your work to Wattpad. Your novella will no longer be yours, and the "perpetual" line in the original passage means never-ending, aka Wattpad will own it and be able to do what they please with it for as long as they'd like. Just for comparison, the Wattys only ask you to waive your rights for a year.
AEPennymaker also addressed the implications of this rule.
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It's important to know your rights as a writer, and that's why I made this section. After learning this, you have a few options.
One: You can not participate in the ONC at all this year.
Two: You can participate the ONC this year, but refrain from submitting your story for judging and or judging in the final round so there aren't any possibilities of having this legal stuff apply to you.
Three: You can risk it, and hope you don't win.
Four: You can risk it, win, and own up the consequences of you signed up for, whatever they may be.
Whichever option you choose, I hope it's the best for you.
