The 2nd place of the ONC belongs to EvelynHail and RainerSalt, who wrote the story Mind The Gap!

Hi there! How did you get into writing?

EvelynHail: I would not say one gets into writing. It's the writing that gets into us! *giggles*

The writing bug bites us and then the infection spreads like an unstoppable fever. Little do we know the urge to tell a story has settled within our mind till the end of times. I started out in an elementary school, as many people do. The first short story I had ever written sprang out from the desperate desire to make a change. My guinea pig, Gricko, had escaped to my neighbour's garden when I was 7. She had two cats. One of them grabbed Gricko and even though my neighbour tried to save him, she failed and the cat killed him. I was devastated. When we had to write a mini-essay titled "My Pet," I wrote a story about my guinea pig and how my neighbour actually did miraculously save him. How Gricko survived. Since my neighbour was afraid of rodents, I wrote that she handed him back to me over the fence, on a shovel, in order to avoid touching him.

I still remember the teacher reading the story in front of the parents at the parents' meeting and saying it was amazingly creative and imaginative. My writing creativity was actually sparked by the desire to change the reality around me. I fashioned a different reality, a safe harbour parallelverse, to annul Gricko's death. To imagine that he was still alive. It was a lie but a pleasurable lie. Just standing there, watching all the parents laugh upon hearing the scene of the guinea pig being handed to me on a shovel—I felt a bit better, even if it had never happened. I was happy to have made an entire room of listeners smile. Words spoken at proper time, in a proper way, can do anything. They are so powerful; they can move mountains. Writers' words do not only change the world for the writers, but for the readers, too. They alter readers' perceptions, readers' thoughts, make them feel and reflect their own lives. Those thoughts spur them to action and then we have the 'thy word be done' moment. The most rewarding moment in writer's life—when we sense someone was genuinely touched by our story and it lingers on their mind long after they had completed it.

RainerSalt: *still has his mouth open in awe of Evelyn's touching Gricko tale*

*closes it slowly*

Er...

When I was a kid, I also invented stories. They were 'head stories', tales never written, invented to entertain myself only. Invariably, they featured me as a hero. And, invariably, the hero won the day.

When I discovered Wattpad, decades later, I tried to write down one of them. And oh was it bad!

*blushes*

I trashed it. Instead, I started looking at others' books, books that worked. Trying to find out what it was that made them work. I also read stuff about writing. In short, I learned. Slowly, this made my stories grow heads and tails—and tiny feet, even. 

Why did you participate in the Open Novella Contest?

RainerSalt: At first I didn't plan to participate in ONC 2020. Being one of the ONC 2019 winners, I thought I'd just step back and watch the show. But then, I remembered how fun it was. The mutual support among the participants. The excitement. On top of that, Evelyn and I had this beautiful concept of a story we had discussed even before the 2020 prompts were released. When one of the prompts matched, we went for it.

EvelynHail: When it comes concretely to the Open Novella Contest 2020... It was because we had already had an idea for the story and we had been lucky to be able to find a prompt that matched, like Rainy says!

Talking about the ONC participation overall, it is an amazing Wattpad event one shouldn't miss!

Firstly, it offers a wide array of creative prompts to choose from. So, it contains this 'inspiration component' if one isn't sure what to write about.

Most of the times the novella can even be expanded post-contest into a fully-fledged novel! It means that its deadline has practically forced the authors to write 40 000 words in a short period of time and that is a ginormous writing boost.

Secondly, the community support is incredible. It offers a huge possibility for connection, for meeting amazing, brilliant, and talented people.  

What inspired you to write your ONC winning story?

EvelynHail: Aye, that's a curious one. I was dutifully copying a line out of a dreadful maths assignment. 'Twas, as follows: "If a Train A left the station going 60 mph & Train B left the station going 70 mph... At what time..."

I stopped and thought.

At what time would I give a damn?

At the time when each of them trains would carry a unique soul, that's when.

RainerSalt: Well, if these trains hurtled past each other at a cumulative speed of 130 mph, neither of the two souls would give a fuck about each other as you so aptly put it. They wouldn't even get a glimpse of each other.

So we started giving the concept of two thoughts on separate trains some more thought. There'd have to be a station somewhere in between... a place where they'd stop. And the two souls need a reason to be in these trains, a life to drive them forward, and a yearning to pull them out.

EvelynHail:Or, more seriously: The concept for the story came up last year when we discussed a Serbian song called "Voz" (Train), by a performer called Bajaga.

Within the lyrics, there is a stanza which goes like this:

Train... On the train, wrinkled passenger's faces...

You... are somewhere behind those mountains...

Are you asleep, perhaps? Or are you awake like me?

Are you bothered by restlessness? Or is nothing bothering you?

RainerSalt: From there, we spun our thread.

And when we found an ONC prompt that matched, there was no stopping us. We plotted the chapters and forged the characters. When that was done, the writing began. We drafted and reviewed chapters, back and forth. We fought, bickered, and laughed over words, jokes, and ideas.

And then, one day, it was complete.

Almost complete. Then Evelyn added the breathtaking drawings.

That finally made it complete.

Do you have a favourite part in your story that you would like to share? Please, elaborate why you like that part in particular.

RainerSalt: A hard question. There are many small things I love about it, many of them connected to how the two protagonists read each other.

They have never talked, just seen each other through train windows. But, with gestures and facial expressions, they establish common ground and believe they are communicating while, in fact, they are just misinterpreting each other. It's sad and funny at the same time.

EvelynHail: Oh, this is such a difficult question! I have a list of about ten or more favourite scenes I would love to share! xD

So I am going to cheat. :P

If I had to choose one, it would definitely be the entire final chapter, "Tracks of Life." Specifically, the moment when the two protagonists finally meet. (SPOILERS!)

It just feels like a massive payoff and catharsis for both the authors and the readers! After so many parallel-train-window gazings, will-they-won't-they moments, emotional rollercoasters, turmoils, awkward interactions, irritating cliffhangers... Comes the happily ever after! Bloody finally! Iris and Evan aka Braces & Bunny beat the odds and surpass all the obstacles! The bastard gap is closed for good! Yet there are still those cute little misunderstandings that hang about, comprehension glitches to work through. This shows the readers that closing the physical gap is just a start of their life journey together! The ending that is a beginning.

"Wherever our tracks would take us," like Evan says. <3 I love the message that conveys!

It's a kind of a cool "How I Met Your Mother" story they can tell to their kids! 

What did you like about the Open Novella Contest the most?

EvelynHail: I personally found it supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Akin to Diagon Alley, really.

Crossing the threshold into the magical world of the "ONC2020 Alley" fashioned a unique experience for me.

It made me wish, just like Diagon Alley Harry, that I had about eight more eyes! <3

I would turn my curious head and my restless fingers in every direction as I walked up the ONC steps, trying to look at everything at once! Read everyone at once!!!

And so it was, truly enchanting. Beautiful colours waved at me from one entry. A hushed whisper, from another; a gruesome murder in a parallelverse splashing the screen red, lay in wait in a third one!

Novellas that harvested souls, novellas that descended to hellish pits, staircases that made you follow detectivesque endeavours while cackling mad with laughter...

At one point, I myself got super dizzy, my head whirled, and I went like: whoa, Evelyn! I did not know what to look at, listen to or touch, anymore! And let me tell you: I loved that vertigo feeling!

Yet, the forte of the wonderfully orchestrated ONC contest this year, just like last year, I found... Lay in a tight-knittedness.

I will be frank: ONC harbours a relatively small number of entries, in comparison to the overall number of the writers on Wattpad!

Yet all who have participated and that I have crossed paths with... Everyone!... has been incredibly kind, supportive and no amount of good words.

Gosh, I have met so many beautiful people! <3 No other Wattpad competition creates such a sensation of community.

RainerSalt: Well, Evelyn has said it all. What more could I add?

I totally agree that the finest part of the ONC is the people you get to know. There are all sorts, like everywhere. But everyone I interacted with was supportive, kind, and respectful, which tends to be rare these days, in particular online.

And the books... The ONC has made me read unique and fascinating works of art. Some modest but well drafted, others daring and wild. I felt that each one of them was a little, precious soul-shard of a writer deeply caring about their work.

What do you like best about writing on Wattpad?

RainerSalt: The best about writing here is, no doubt, the community. People here are so supportive, kind, and respectful, as I had said.

Another highlight is the opportunity to meet strangers who may have totally different backgrounds and to find common ground through our writing.

EvelynHail: What I like best about writing on Wattpad is the following: sharing each step of the writing journey.

The comment section is a treasure trove.

Wattpad is the kind of platform that enables you to walk side by side with fellow creators who also revel in this hobby, teach them, and learn from them at the same time.

The clumsy outlining process, the stumble through the rough first draft, brick-by-brick building of our worlds.

The reigning in of the disobedient characters, the exhilaration of the manuscript completion, the simultaneous frustration and joy of numerous manuscript edits that are inevitably to follow.

The moment when we decide to try and monetise our craft, either in a traditional or self-publishing way, the querying process, the rejections, the full manuscript requests, ultimately, the publications!

It is simply wonderful to share them all, to sense that you are not alone in the creative process which otherwise might have felt too solitary. 

Congratulations to the both of you once again and thank you for the interview! We wish you all the best for your future writing endeavors. 💛