Three Sentence Ficathon

[rthstewart]

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.

Comments

[ernest]

Cosette’s eyes are dry, not because she wants for nothing, but because she has long-since learned that nothing is what she gets, and maybe even what she deserves. The night the stranger in the yellow coat comes to the inn is the first time she dares to steal a bit of hope and to steal a doll – and to have those taken away, well it’s the first time she’s wept in years.

The next morning an old man and a little girl leave together for a humble home where crying is permitted but neither of them need to.

[litlover12]

Love it!

[jjhunter]

Well, that first line punches me in the feels and gets right to the heart of something very true (and then twists it very sad and Not Right but ow, I can see how she gets there.) I like the juxtaposition you set up here: the arrival of this stranger and the color that comes with them in their coat that also opens up the vision that Cosette might get more than nothing, might yet steal herself a doll and hope and momentum to act on what she wants - this also opens her eyes up to tearing. It implies that she'd already got herself hope, enough to be vulnerable to feeling its loss.

And oh, that closing is very sweet: "leave together for a humble home where crying is permitted but neither of them need to" - oh yes.

Thank you for the gift of this. <3

[ernest]

omg, thank you so much! I invite you to join Team Hot Chocolate for Cosette, which is a tag I and some friends on tumblr came up with while reading the Brick together. And that's such a great point about Valjean bringing some color into her life. There's a bit in the book where it says she had tried to love other people but everyone rebuffed her -- "It was not the faculty of love that she lacked, alas! It was the possibility" and like you say, this shift opens her eyes up to tearing (and what a great phrase, I love it!)

Thank you again, and I'm so glad that you liked my little fic.

[jjhunter]

It's a wonderful ficlet! And 'Team Hot Chocolate for Cosette' is a delight - all the hot chocolate and fluffy beds and security of care and home and a future not alone, indeed.

Your reply here is making me want to reread Les Misérables again since it's been so long - do you have any favorite English translation that you'd particularly recommend?

[ernest]

My personal favorite is the Signet Classics edition translated by Lee Fahnestock and Norman MacAfee, which gets pretty close to the feel of the original without feeling too old-timey to be accessible. But really anything but the Norman Denny translation is good (he cuts out a lot of parts while claiming to be ~unabridged~ and basically seems to think he knows Les Mis better than Hugo does)

[jjhunter]

Thank you! I'm currently working my way through the superb new Emily Wilson translation of the Odyssey, but it looks like my library has another translation besides the Norman Denny one available for Les Mis through their ebook loan program, so I've put in a hold request to get it in the new year - will look forward to it!