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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

















myrdschaem: watercolour art of ginko from mushishi, sitting in plants (halcyon)

More Than Meets The Eye, Whirl

[personal profile] myrdschaem 2021-02-06 10:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"I tried to get replacements once, back when I was out fucking up shit with the Wreckers, but before they decided to ditch me because I had 'no sense of morals' and 'committed war crimes'." Whirl scoffed, made some truly disdainful air quotes - quite the achievement with his rigid pincers - before turning back to the current project, a quarks chrono-piece with a hidden cyber-canary that was going to pop-out every chord and sing "The Power of Love". It was going to be epic.

Tailgate took a noise slurp through his curly straw before he asked: "So how did that go? Getting new hands?"

It would've been funny a few years back, ol' Panic Eyes just innocently asking him about his traumas, haha, funny enough to beat him up for it. But it was now, so it wasn't funny and really Whirl was busy finicking all the little quarks into the right place. "Oh, absolute fucking shit show, really. Couldn't do any of the proper mechanics with it. I smashed like ten modules before I ripped them off and demanded the claws back. Those, at least, felt like me.

"That's when it first started to sink in, I think. I didn't need to be fixed, I needed to be helped, but fuck Primus on a spaceshuttle if I wanted that. I repressed those self-insights really quick and went back to killing cons by the squadron."

"Oh, mh. That doesn't sound very healthy, actually."

Whirl let out a cackle. "Of course not! I never gave a flying frack about healthy. At least until the Lost Light."

"Until you met us?"

"Sure, short stack, until I met you."
snacky: (narnia susan)

Re: [Narnia] armies march on their stomachs, wearing hand-knit socks

[personal profile] snacky 2021-02-06 10:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Perfect, practical Susan!
smallhobbit: (Default)

[personal profile] smallhobbit 2021-02-06 10:25 pm (UTC)(link)
It was so romantic, the way they looked at each other, so clearly in love as they danced together. It was also wise, if one also wished to dance, to remain at the other end of the ballroom, or preferrably in a totally different ballroom altogether. She only had eyes for him, which was lovely, but meant that anyone in the vicinity ran the risk of being flattened.
snacky: (narnia susan archer queen)

men fight wars. women win them

[personal profile] snacky 2021-02-06 10:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Queen Susan doesn't ride to the wars, and all of Narnia knows it.

They know it because she is there at Cair Paravel when King Peter and King Edmund and Queen Lucy are gone with the army to fight the dangerous battles — Queen Susan is there waiting for news from the front, welcoming families who need assistance while their men are gone to fight, comforting grieving mothers who have heard of the loss of their sons in battle, running the country so smoothly that none might doubt the strength of Narnia even in the High King's absence, settling small disputes and negotiating treaties from one moment to the next.

And when the wars come to the castle, it's Queen Susan up on the battlement with the archers, leading the defense of her home and country and defending her people.
autumnia: Kings and Queens of Narnia (Pevensies (Aslan's How))

Re: first two of four

[personal profile] autumnia 2021-02-06 10:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh Edmund... it's probably best not to know right now even if you have your suspicions. What good will it do you now when you and Morgan have been worlds and centuries apart?

Susan, and Tebbitt and Lambert. Ahhhh.... it is Lambert who ends up bridging the gap between his Queen and the Wing Commander.

For a High King such as Peter, he most definitely can be a bit dense here. Maybe it's because he cannot think as clearly in the air of Spare Oom as in Narnia. Thankfully Mary's there to point out the obvious!
violsva: Finn and Rey hugging from Star Wars: The Force Awakens (finnrey hugs)

Re: marvel // natasha // among the stars and sky

[personal profile] violsva 2021-02-06 10:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Yay :)

Fill: A Little Princess, Lavinia + Sara

[personal profile] runespoor 2021-02-06 10:31 pm (UTC)(link)
The first person Lavinia sees is the last person she wants to see her; who else but Princess Sara, with those owlish green eyes of hers fixed on Lavinia. Lavinia’s always rather thought it made her look like some queer creature out of a nanny’s folk tale - the sort of tales Sara likes to tell so much and has everyone hanging on to her every word, a regular pied piper.

Before Sara came to the school, Lavinia’s place was the very highest, and now Sara will reign unchallenged. How infuriatingly fitting that she be the one to catch Lavinia at her most discomfited.

At least Lavinia didn’t cry when Miss Minchin told her of her parents’ ship being wrecked. She cannot abide the thought of silly, solemn Sara seeing her with red eyes.

They stare at each other for a moment. Lavinia is supposed to--well, no matter. Lavinia is to clear her things out, but she’ll not go to her room until she is sure Jessie is asleep. If Jessie talks to her now, Lavinia realizes suddenly, if Jessie inflicts her awkward fawning on Lavinia - Lavinia would scratch her eyes out.

Sara’s strange, solemn look always makes her look like she knows more than she ought to - an “old soul,” or so they say - and right now Lavinia’s blood runs crystal-cold with the certainty that Sara knows. (Yet what does it matter? Tomorrow the whole school will know of Lavinia’s disgrace. Sara’s forbidden knowledge will serve her very little then.)

It’s rage fueling Lavinia in this moment; making her back stand straight and burning her eyes dry. Rage, and resentment, at the unfairness of it all.

Sara is the first to speak; unusual, for her. Most of the time she’s happy to ignore Lavinia, or otherwise only responds when Lavinia goads her. Sara only acknowledges Lavinia’s presence when politeness demands she does - and for all of Sara’s habits that annoy Lavinia, the ability to turn good manners into tools of--of unavowed aggression is probably the one that makes Lavinia itch for a good screaming match the most.

“I--will you be leaving the school, then?”

Lavinia catches on to that rage and doesn’t let go. (Doesn’t let herself drown.) “You would like that, wouldn’t you.”

Lavinia’s heart is thumping in her chest. If Sara lies, she thinks wildly, if she dares pretend she won’t, Lavinia will steal her French notebook and burn it. She’ll have the opportunity, too, when she’s putting away the younger girls’ school things away after helping them. Since that is now to be part of Lavinia’s-- occupations.

Sara’s cheeks color - a flush of red on her winter-wan skin - and Lavinia tastes the satisfaction as though she’d drawn blood. Sara’s gaze flick to her mouth, and only then does Lavinia realize she’s showing teeth. (Unbecoming; of course, of course. A proper young lady doesn’t sneer, Lavinia, Miss Minchin would say, but that’s no longer Lavinia, is it?)

“Does it matter?” Sara says, and her voice is low, and clear in the quiet corridor.

Lavinia’s lips stretch into a smile. “It doesn’t,” she replies, and walks past Sara with her head raised high.

In the next months, when she’s alone in her room without fire under the roof, kept awake by knots in her stomach and the noises in the walls - after she’s superbly, stupidly refused Jessie’s fumbling attempts at charity - Lavinia will wish many things different; but never this one moment, this final, meaningless victory.
violsva: full bookshelf with ladder (Default)

Re: [Miraculous Ladybug] taking stock

[personal profile] violsva 2021-02-06 10:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Yikes. And yes, the eternal question of superheroes.
snacky: (Default)

[personal profile] snacky 2021-02-06 10:33 pm (UTC)(link)
The "sir" is sooooooo good. :D

[personal profile] embraidery 2021-02-06 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
oh I love this so much!! thank you!
snacky: (Default)

Re: Susan and Lucy showcasing their skills.

[personal profile] snacky 2021-02-06 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Susan and Lucy showing off JUST what they know, I love it!
violsva: The words "towsell-mowsell on a sopha"; a reference to The Comfortable Courtesan (towsell-mowsell)

[personal profile] violsva 2021-02-06 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Very nice progression. And I love the pretty much inherent conflict in Narnia between English mores and the canonical appearance of Bacchus, and this works really well within that.

[personal profile] embraidery 2021-02-06 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
hahaha yes, perfect timing!! thank you!
violsva: Bucky Barnes from Captain America: Civil War (Bucky)

Re: marvel // bucky/natasha // in the quiet hours

[personal profile] violsva 2021-02-06 10:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh my heart *_*
myrdschaem: watercolour art of ginko from mushishi, sitting in plants (Default)

More Than Meets The Eye, Minimus Ambus, Karaoke

[personal profile] myrdschaem 2021-02-06 10:35 pm (UTC)(link)
"I thought perhaps you would like to hear another timeless song from Earth." Minimus nervously cleared his vocalizer, crossing his fingers that nothing would go wrong and that Swerve would use the right song this time. As the music set in, he started singing as well: "You are - my fire; The one - desire; Believe - when I say..."

Re: Fill: Naruto, Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura

[personal profile] runespoor 2021-02-06 10:41 pm (UTC)(link)
*hands over a kleenex*
vialethe: (Narnia Group)

Re: Just Don't Say a Word

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-06 10:41 pm (UTC)(link)
You're here!!

(Anonymous) 2021-02-06 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks!

Re: Fill: The Untamed, Wei Wuxian + Jin Ling

[personal profile] runespoor 2021-02-06 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
They're <33333
violsva: Dottie Underwood from Agent Carter, in prison (Dottie)

Re: Fill: A Little Princess, Lavinia + Sara

[personal profile] violsva 2021-02-06 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, I love this.

(Anonymous) 2021-02-06 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Glad you liked it!
vialethe: (Narnia Group)

Re: I feel that I can't stand much more of this, yet I don't want it to stop

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-06 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Well Lucy broke the rules, so why shouldn't you!! And good for her, I say.

(Anonymous) 2021-02-06 10:44 pm (UTC)(link)
This is magical, I love it!
myrdschaem: watercolour art of ginko from mushishi, sitting in plants (Default)

Re: To Feed a Jinchuuriki (Naruto; Teuchi & Naruto)

[personal profile] myrdschaem 2021-02-06 10:44 pm (UTC)(link)
This is sweet and strained my heart, thank you.
vialethe: (Susan)

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-06 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
How is Palps SO CREEPY when he's not even doing anything bad?? I don't know, but you've managed it. I love that it's Susan's body language that marks her as royalty.