rthstewart | Three Sentence Ficathon

UPDATE! EDIT!
We're running into the Dreamwidth comment limits so all new prompts should be posted here Keep responding to and filling already posted prompts here, but all new ones should go to the new thread!

Someone did this banner for me a couple of years ago. It's great, isn't it? ~~If it was you, please step up and take a bow!~~
It was

st_aurafina! Thank you again!

caramelsilver ran one last year on Livejournal and I did two over here a few years ago. We'll keep it open until January 31, 2019 which should give everyone time to play a little. This is a delightful part of the online fandom community.

What is the 3 Sentence Ficathon?
This is a challenge where you answer a prompt with a fic consisting of only three sentences. It's open to all fandoms and you can post and answer as many prompts as you like, as many times as you want.

What do I do first?
You post prompts! When posting a prompt please format it this way:

fandom, character(s), prompt word/sentence.

Only one prompt per comment please. So, for example,

Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi, I don't like sand."

What else?
You answer other posters' prompts in three sentences (or more if you can't stop yourself) and fill as many prompts as you want, as many times as you wish. If you see that a prompt you loved has already been filled, go ahead and fill it again! Multiple fills of the same prompt are allowed and even encouraged! (We get really fun stories going this way).

Can I still post if I need more than 3 sentences? Or should I just abuse grammar in ways the English language never contemplated?
Yes. Yes.

But I'm not a member of Dreamwidth
No problem. You can comment anonymously or through open ID

Can anyone play?
Yes! Please signal boost this to your flist, followers, and any other places you frequent. Come one, come all!
The more people who come and play, the better!

Can I spread the word?
Yes, please. I'd love to create a nifty banner with an embed code but I fail at it. So if you create one, I'll post it and everyone can use it.

How long will it go?
Tentatively, we'll close it on January 31, 2019.

Are there any rules about cross-posting?
Nope, you can post wherever you want, whenever you want. A lot of folks collected their responses together and posted them on AO3 under the 3 sentence fiction tag. 3SFs are a terrific prompt for remixes and could be helpful for Yuletide bears, too.

What about spoilers, content warnings, triggers, pairings, ratings, tags, and squick?
I thought about this. It wasn't an issue the last 2 times I ran this but times change. In my experience, this typically gets too big, moves too fast, and the stories are too short for content warnings and ratings. You should assume spoilers are fair game and that the initial poster and responder have opted to use no content warnings or tags. I've found personally that I can skim by stuff that, from the prompt, I can tell isn't my favorite flavor of delicious cake. Use your best judgment and be prepared to skip over things that aren't your thing.

And here, have some icons!

I'll start things off...

Edit to add on 12/18/2018 Please check out this update here. And this friending meme if you're so inclined here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This is... uh... not exactly what you asked for, but the first thing that jumped into my mind oddly enough. No fandom.

When he threw a handful of memories into the pot, he figured that he would win either way, though it was his very first game. He had no memories but sorrow, solitude, despair; no laughter had ever touched his life; he would lose that grief, or win some of the treasures on display--a slice of a summer's day, a love lament from a star, a deep secret no one knew.

On the way out, feeling oddly empty, he admired the glowing crystals and the scenes depicted within--a laughing man, a wedding, two children, a man at a poker table curled up in despair--odd, that the man in all those portraits would have his face; he had not played a single game.

Edited (New details) 2018-12-14 03:04 (UTC)

This is really cool – such a neatly contained and complete short story, and ouch, that twist at the end.

O_O

Oh wow, that's incredible, though! It's a lovely little gem of a story; I had to read it through twice to really understand what had happened, and then I just thought, WOW. Heartbreaking and gorgeous and absolutely brilliant.

Edited 2018-12-14 03:17 (UTC)

'course now I'm envisioning it as a feature film (every memory that's added to the pot gets shown in flashback, and they're out of chronological order but tell the story of how he got there in the first place and why)

Haha, thanks! In my mind, the first few times he plays, he remembers that he's lost some happy memories, so keeps playing to get them back.

It's only when he's lost even the memory of being happy that he forgets even losing the first few games.