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rthstewart ([personal profile] rthstewart) wrote2021-01-30 02:31 pm

Three Sentence Ficathon 2021

We have now opened a new post, for new prompts! Please leave all new prompts there. You may continue to fill existing prompts here. If you didn't get a prompt filled here, feel free to post it on the new post!





Welcome to the Three Sentence Ficathon!
2 Feb. 2021 See important edit below regarding where to find unfilled prompts.


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

What do I do first?
You can start 3SF by posting 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."

Open ended and anthropomorphic fills are popular too, such as:

Any, Any, "I don't like sand."

or

Earth geography, sand, "I don't like humans very much, either."

What happens after that?
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

I'm really overwhelmed by all the prompts and how much there is and how fast it goes. I can't read 1,000 prompts and fills. It's too much. 
I hear this a lot and it keeps a lot of people from participating.  The 3SF is big and it moves fast, especially at first. 
I get overwhelmed, too, and I'm hosting the thing. With 2020 and 2021 sucking so badly you don't want something that's supposed to be fun cause you anxiety.  I have a couple of suggestions for managing the 3SF volume. 
  • First, really, you don't have to read every prompt and fill on every page.  You can start at the last page of this and just go forward, or back a page or two.  It's fine.
  • You can come and go as time and energy allow, you don't have to participate the whole time, and it drops off quite a bit by mid-February.
  • Even after the 3SF and new prompting end, people fill prompts all year long.
  • You can fill an already filled prompt and you can can leave a prompt that's already been prompted before.  People do it all the time. 
Always make sure you're looking at top-level comments only, not threaded. That helps a lot. Your screen should look like this.




But shouldn't I read everything to see if someone already prompted the same prompt I want to leave if someone already filled it? 

No.  Prompt as many times as you want, as much as you want.  It doesn't matter if someone prompted the exact same prompt.  Go ahead and prompt again!

I left a prompt and no one filled it.  Can I prompt it again?
Absolutely!

Can I spread the word?
Yes, please. I generally fail at creating banners and embed codes but if you create one and make it really idiot-proof, I might be able to post and share it.  Feel free to cross-post this entry. If you create your own banners or icons, let me know and I'll share!
Please share the 3SF with your followers, friends, and any channels and comms you are active on.  I'll post on fandom calendar, Tumblr, and Twitter, but I don't have many connections in other spaces such as Discord.


How long will it go?

The 3SF closes to new prompts on February 28, 2021. The entry stays open permanently and people post fills all year long.

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 and archive warnings, triggers, pairings, ratings, tags, and squick?
I thought a lot about this. It boils down to reader beware.  In my experience, this typically gets too big, moves too fast, and the stories are too short for content warnings and ratings to even apply. It is too big for me to moderate in this way. You should assume spoilers are fair game and that the initial poster and the responder have opted to use no content warnings or tags. This means AO3 content warnings for dubcon, violence, canon character death, underage, etc. COULD be present. I've found personally that I can skim and scroll 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. In this format, the obligation is on you, the reader, to protect yourself from triggering content.
Some posters do include warnings and spoiler tags in subject lines or include spoiler space, but they don't have to do so.

Why is 3SF split among several posts?  That seems confusing.
It is confusing and we always lose momentum once we have to move to a second post. The reason is because at 5,000 comments to a single post, DW installs a human test CAPTCHA, which is a pain for users.  So, once this entry gets to the upper 4,000 comments, I open a new post.  If you've been waiting until things slow down to participate, when we open a second post is often a good place to join.

If I have questions, what do I do?

I'm rthstewart everywhere, here, Twitter, Tumblr, gmail and AO3.

A special thank you to [personal profile] conuly  .
Last year, Conuly started logging all unfilled prompts.
This year's (2021) unfilled prompts are here.
Last year's (2020) unfilled prompts are here.
Conuly asks that you not reply, as they want to be able to edit and add more prompts to the list.
Conuly does this just because they are an awesome person but should you want to write them fic in thanks, you can find a birthday wish list here.

Here is the 3SF 2021 Friending Meme to show of your new DW account.

Here, have some icons and banners and let me know if you've created your own!

 






text box you can try to cut and paste

















schoolsasaint: (Default)

[personal profile] schoolsasaint 2021-02-04 01:34 pm (UTC)(link)
There was a man and he loved the sea as such men do, and he set out to cross mapless tracks and plow waves and and sup and live from her bounty.

There was a man and he longed for freedom, swift sails and deep keels, an endless flight and harbor to return to that he always had the choice to leave, if leaving was his desire.

The was a woman, and she was the sea; she was the wind and the waves and the slow bending kelp forests pointing landward and sunward and the welcoming, wrecking, seashell-studded shore, and she gathered them both into her arms to keep.

Re: Narnia, rthverse ft. Otters

(Anonymous) 2021-02-04 01:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Heh, this is excellent!

(Anonymous) 2021-02-04 01:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Ohhhh, my heart. This is wonderful!

(Anonymous) 2021-02-04 02:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Awwww, sweet!

Re: The secret garden - Mary & Colin & Dickon + flower crowns - Let Your Dreams Run Free

(Anonymous) 2021-02-04 02:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Perfect!
zdenka: Starry background with text: "I will not say the Day is done, nor bid the Stars farewell." (my story is not done)

Re: Fill: lotr, éomer (& any), dealing with a lost horse

[personal profile] zdenka 2021-02-04 02:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!
frausorge: my arm in a black opera glove (Default)

[personal profile] frausorge 2021-02-04 02:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Fantastic! I love both the bittersweet memory of Alderaan and the humor in the last line.
wallwalker: Venetian mask, dark purple with gold gilding. (Default)

Re: Sheepdog (LoZ: Twilight Princess, Link)

[personal profile] wallwalker 2021-02-04 02:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Link is a good doggy. This is very cute.
paxilam: (Default)

[personal profile] paxilam 2021-02-04 02:44 pm (UTC)(link)
lotr, any, whistling
wallwalker: Venetian mask, dark purple with gold gilding. (Default)

[personal profile] wallwalker 2021-02-04 03:11 pm (UTC)(link)
(Fandom: Disco Elysium)

Harry listens quizzically to the fast and base-heavy music that pounds from the speakers as best it can, given the low volume, still looking as though he may fall asleep at any moment, and lets the song end before finally speaking up - "I didn't picture you as a speed-"

"I'm not a speedfreak," you say quickly, conveniently drowning out the Speedfreaks FM station identification message, "the music keeps me awake on long drives and -"

"Kim," he says quietly, laughing, "with all the fucked-up things you've seen me do... do you really think I'm going to judge you? For, what, wanting to listen to loud music, or wanting to go fast sometimes?"

You let out the breath that you didn't know you were holding - you're so used to snap judgments from everyone around you for any reason that they could find, that being given any form of grace is a blessing. "Thank you, Detective."

[personal profile] runespoor 2021-02-04 03:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Ouch ouch ouch o u c h

the bitterness is palpable and layered. Oh, Jiang Cheng.

Re: FE7, Eli+Hec+Lyn

[personal profile] runespoor 2021-02-04 03:31 pm (UTC)(link)
This is so evocative of their differences and identities. Nice handling of Lyn's identity issues ^^

Re: FE7, Guy&Heath + Priscilla

[personal profile] runespoor 2021-02-04 03:34 pm (UTC)(link)
*pulls out "let Priscilla have nice things" flag* (okay, "growth" counts as a nice thing, but oh, she still breaks my heart.)

They're good boys and Priscilla is a treasure.

Re: FE7 Legault+Heath (death ment)

[personal profile] runespoor 2021-02-04 03:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Nice. The image of tango fits their support so well.
ernest: (Wall)

Fill:Pathologic

[personal profile] ernest 2021-02-04 04:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Neither the past nor the future can survive if they persist as foreign bodies under each other’s skin. They must be either cut apart or sewn together, both of which would take a Menkhu, a surgeon of fates, one who knows the Lines, making Artemy the only one qualified to make that decision.

There will be blood whatever he does, maybe not rivers or a flood as Clara warned, but he knows that it hurts to be born, so he prepares himself to be the midwife of this wound.
ernest: (Default)

And Then There Were None, Lombard/Marston

[personal profile] ernest 2021-02-04 04:16 pm (UTC)(link)
“Oh, I’m Irish now,” Lombard says with cheeky delight, “then you must know the—”

“Don’t start,” snaps Lombard, who’s gotten enough of that from pretty boy Marston and has no intention of listening to this kind of generalization from a self who didn’t even mind leaving all those men to die because that’s what natives are good at, dying.

“Alright, alright, don’t get in a sweat,” he answers, already bored of this, and paying more attention to the Nordic God flirting shamelessly with himself, and wondering how he can get invited in on the fun.

(Anonymous) 2021-02-04 04:17 pm (UTC)(link)
This is the epitome of thought unhampered be common sense. I love it.
little_lady_d: (Default)

Re: Fill: Hamlet

[personal profile] little_lady_d 2021-02-04 04:25 pm (UTC)(link)
oh good it's hamlet being a bouncy dane! he's so excited for his friends, excited to share the fresh air and greenery with them, and his disappointment is palpable. 'wilts along with the ferns behind him' -- what a lovely tragic turn of phrase.
little_lady_d: (Default)

Re: Umineko, Beato and EVA Beatrice (Spoilers for Episode 3)

[personal profile] little_lady_d 2021-02-04 04:27 pm (UTC)(link)
beato!!! this is such a good powerful moment for her, you really re-captured it perfectly. i love the detail of her heart suspended on golden threads and her grinning through bloody missing teeth and 'she lives because she refuses to die.'
little_lady_d: (Default)

[personal profile] little_lady_d 2021-02-04 04:29 pm (UTC)(link)
you've got lombard's wry, irreverent voice down to a tee, this was a delight to read!
smallhobbit: (Default)

[personal profile] smallhobbit 2021-02-04 04:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you - B S Johnson to a T!
wolfish_willow: Steve Harrington looking up at the Creel house in Season 4 (Default)

Re: The Magicians (tv), the Watcherwoman

[personal profile] wolfish_willow 2021-02-04 04:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh ouch! Great job.
little_lady_d: (Default)

[personal profile] little_lady_d 2021-02-04 04:32 pm (UTC)(link)
these boys. are idiots. they're sweet idiots, both of them, i can feel for osric finally forging his own freedom and hurt, oblivious hamlet who didn't even know he'd been getting in the way -- but they just don't know how to talk to each other, and you got the frustration of that so well.
wallwalker: Venetian mask, dark purple with gold gilding. (Default)

[personal profile] wallwalker 2021-02-04 04:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Any, Any, if thine is the glory mine must be the shame
little_lady_d: (Default)

[personal profile] little_lady_d 2021-02-04 04:36 pm (UTC)(link)
oh this is perfectly painful. i had a pretty good guess about who the speaker was (someone who fate took away everything from, so they gave themselves up to the roulette of fate) but why do you get to be happy, battler, why does anyone made me think of ange facing her dead-end future, screaming why am i the only one who ever gets left behind ... and that's either a good twist or a good parallel. these sad children.
Edited 2021-02-04 16:37 (UTC)