If Walls Could Talk

The phrase "if walls could talk" is a figure of speech that means if rooms could communicate and share their experiences, they would have many stories to tell.

The Prompt

Write a short fiction story where the wall of a structure of your choice becomes the narrator, telling the tales of the secrets and events that have taken place in front of them.

Use the phrase "if walls could talk" as the story's opening line, and give the wall a voice that reflects the age, history, and milestones they have witnessed. The wall can be public or private and located anywhere, during any time period.

Here are some settings to get your creative juices flowing: a home, church, museum, prison, office, the Alhambra, the Great Wall of China, a poker room. After reading your submissions, we may never look at walls the same way again.

In order for your submission to qualify, it must:

• Be between 600-5,000 words
• Start with the phrase "If walls could talk"

The Prizes

• Grand Prize: $1,000
• Second Place: $250
• 10 Runners-Up: $25

For your story to be eligible, it should be between 600 and 5,000 words, and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Stories published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until 11:59 PM ET on February 16th will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.

The If Walls Could Talk Challenge is exclusive to Vocal+ members. To learn more and upgrade to Vocal+ visit https://vocal.media/vocal-plus.

To be eligible to win the grand prize, second place, or runners-up prizes, you must be over the age of 13 and residing in a country where Stripe is available at the time of entry. A complete list of countries where Stripe is available can be found here—winners will need to have a Stripe account created and connected in order to receive the prizes. For this reason, entrants located outside of any of these countries will not be eligible to win.