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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

















vialethe: (Narnia Group)

Re: Narnia, rthverse ft. Otters

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-06 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, poor Edmund. I love the terrible, no good, very bad otters, even though I know I shouldn't.
vialethe: (Narnia Group)

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-06 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Even a big cat is still a cat, after all! I do wonder how big the heap of catnip would need to be for all of them to be in that deep.
zdenka: The Doors of Khazad-dum. (tolkien)

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

[personal profile] zdenka 2021-02-06 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you very much!
snacky: (narnia edmund the just)

not a nursery tale but a very dangerous knight

[personal profile] snacky 2021-02-06 10:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"My uncle -- General Glozelle -- all the lords -- they won't listen to him!" Caspian was frantically trying to persuade everyone as Edmund walked off to the Telmarine camp, flanked by Giant and Centaur, clad in mail with hand on the hilt of his sword, Peter's challenge held lightly in his other. The other Pevensies just shook their heads at him and assured him all would be well.

But when Edmund returned later with a satisfied look on his face, Caspian was just as eager as the others to hear what he had managed to pull off.
vialethe: (Susan)

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-06 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
So sad - Susan carries her ghosts with her, of course. I love that it's Ed she thinks of first. He probably would be the most likely to make noise.
snacky: (narnia kings and queens)

Re: Just Don't Say a Word

[personal profile] snacky 2021-02-06 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
I finally made it! :D
snacky: (narnia lucy)

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

[personal profile] snacky 2021-02-06 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
She always was Aslan's favorite!
snacky: (Default)

Re: The Queen of Every Beggar’s Son

[personal profile] snacky 2021-02-06 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Ahahaha I love it!
theseatheseatheopensea: A person reading, with a cat on their lap. (Reader and cat.)

[personal profile] theseatheseatheopensea 2021-02-06 10:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Awwwwww! <3 Perfect!
vialethe: (Narnia Group)

Re: Peter is a rock, in more ways than one -- TSG AU

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-06 11:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, Ruth. These are all so wonderful and so much more than I ever expected to get from the prompt. My dear Ed, swallowing his pain and knowing that it's better not to know; Lucy, always underestimated and so much older and wiser than anyone realizes. Tebbitt always thrills me, and his understanding of how important Lambert is to her is sweet - and his relief at having Susan at a disadvantage for once was highly amusing. And Peter! Poor, silly Peter. Thank goodness he has Mary to direct him. I love the physicality and earthiness present in this one, so perfectly grounded, as Peter needed to be. Thank you!!
theseatheseatheopensea: Lyrics from the song Stolen property, by The Triffids, handwritten by David McComb. (Default)

Re: Fill: A Little Princess, Lavinia + Sara

[personal profile] theseatheseatheopensea 2021-02-06 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Nice! The swapped roles really work here!
vialethe: (Susan)

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-06 11:04 pm (UTC)(link)
That last line is delightful - understanding that sometimes it's not necessarily about advantage, or gaining anything, just about making sure your enemy fails. But I've no doubt that Susan can charm them into forgetting that in the end!
vialethe: (River+Mal)

Re: firefly // mal/river // rhythm and song

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-06 11:06 pm (UTC)(link)
This is wonderful, and so River. Of course she'd want his heart to know she was listening, in more ways than one! Thank you, I love it.

(Anonymous) 2021-02-06 11:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Any, any, once upon a time in the north
laughingpineapple: (Tariq)

[personal profile] laughingpineapple 2021-02-06 11:07 pm (UTC)(link)
I can't begin to tell you how starry eyed I've been at this fill all evening. It's perfect...
vialethe: (River)

Re: Season 5:10 spoiler for Expanse

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-06 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
If anyone ever deserved it, surely it's Marco. I can't blame Drummer a bit. (And I agree with sholio - I shy away from writing Drummer much because I find her voice really hard to capture, but you did it very well here!)
snacky: (game of thrones jon snow)

Trading Barbs

[personal profile] snacky 2021-02-06 11:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Susan Pevensie was shivering after hours of target practice, and Jon shook his head at her as he took the bow and quiver from her and wrapped his heavy cloak around her shoulders, saying, "I know you come from a land of a hundred year winter, but you still have no idea what real cold is, my lady."

She pulled the cloak tight around her and said with a gracious smile, "Thank you for sharing your wisdom and warmth with me. In return, I'll teach you how to shoot."

"You've seen me shoot."

"Yes, which is why I need to teach you."
vialethe: (Ophelia)

Re: greek mythology // hades/persephone // fire fading, ash falling

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-06 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, yes. This is what I had in mind when I left the prompt, and you executed it in such a lovely way. I adore the concept that Hades would find comfort in the ashes, letting them keep him warm until Persephone and her fire returned.
laughingpineapple: (Tariq)

[personal profile] laughingpineapple 2021-02-06 11:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Pyre, Soliam/Gol, in the wake of the titan's death
little_lady_d: (Default)

[personal profile] little_lady_d 2021-02-06 11:12 pm (UTC)(link)
thank you! one of the things i love about playing arkham horror and eldritch horror with friends is the horrible adventures that arise, and in this one, sister mary definitely becomes the deputy of arkham and jim culver goes mad in the unnameable, but there are so many permutations and possibilities.
vialethe: (Narnia Group)

Re: not a nursery tale but a very dangerous knight

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-06 11:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Ha! Even dear Caspian is not immune to underestimating the Pevensies, but oh, how he'll learn. I love that it only takes him one brief mission to figure it out, too.
laughingpineapple: (Tariq)

[personal profile] laughingpineapple 2021-02-06 11:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Pyre, Soliam/Gol, imps
little_lady_d: (Default)

[personal profile] little_lady_d 2021-02-06 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
thank you, and thank you for the prompt! i have fond memories of calvin wright because of my partner reading his card and going 'so calvin is canonically queer, right?' so i'm glad i got a chance to write from his perspective.
vialethe: (Default)

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-06 11:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Haha yes! Very wise advice, indeed.
vialethe: (Susan)

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-06 11:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Narnia, Susan Pevensie, You assume I’m fine, but what would you do if I/break free and leave us in ruins