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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: (River)

Re: The Expanse

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-08 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yet again," hahaha. That says it all, really. Love this.
metogator: (Default)

Re: So many ideas, so little time!

[personal profile] metogator 2021-02-08 05:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Haha, me too! Don’t care how it’s happening, don’t really care that Narnia is suddenly space going (or maybe in this world it always was?), bring on the stars!

(Anonymous) 2021-02-08 05:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I love this! Jill with her own coven, amazing
vialethe: (Narnia Group)

Re: ahem, rthstewart and wingedflight

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-08 05:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I bet a lot of things were flip-flopping when Caspian looked at her that way! It's a lovely image, and a good reminder of who is really the elder here, despite physical appearances.
metogator: (Default)

Re: ahem, rthstewart and wingedflight

[personal profile] metogator 2021-02-08 05:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Yesssssss perfect dynamic!
athoughtfox: (Default)

[personal profile] athoughtfox 2021-02-08 06:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Narnia, Eustace Scrubb, 'nothing has really happened until it has been described'
harmony_lover: (Default)

[personal profile] harmony_lover 2021-02-08 06:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, this is amazing but also HURTS because it's Ed, and also is TERRIFYING. Edward Scissorhands also terrified me as a child. It's not a happy movie, at all.
athoughtfox: (Default)

[personal profile] athoughtfox 2021-02-08 06:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Narnia, Susan Pevensie, 'I am your saviour, / your last-serving daughter'
Edited 2021-02-08 18:44 (UTC)
harmony_lover: (Default)

Re: i am so sorry

[personal profile] harmony_lover 2021-02-08 06:48 pm (UTC)(link)
This is AMAZING. I am CACKLING. :D:D
metogator: (Default)

Ok take 2

[personal profile] metogator 2021-02-08 06:48 pm (UTC)(link)
When it was all over, the wand broken, the breaker of the wand broken, his wrists encircled by the Witch’s knife even as he took her certain victory, Lucy returned from her rounds with the cordial to see Edmund’s results.

“Don’t cry,” he reassured her, “you saved my life, Lu. The General says it’s very clean, I can have whaddyacallits, prosthetics. Some of the Dryads are already making them.” He pushed away the shame of those he betrayed helping him - no shame, Aslan said, only justice and service.

“You can be a pirate,” Lucy grinned at him tearily.

—-

Years later, no hook nor knife nor empty sleeve defines the Just King. Stonefist, he is called, or King of the Scales, or sometimes simply Edmund Scissorhands, and he appears at court to judge with golden scissors affixed to one arm, to measure and cut the string of fate, and stone scales on the other, to weigh the judged’s guilt.
harmony_lover: (Default)

Re: nsfw

[personal profile] harmony_lover 2021-02-08 06:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Annnnnddd it got better; every time I think you all have surpassed yourselves...! :D

(Anonymous) 2021-02-08 06:50 pm (UTC)(link)
He couldn't pinpoint exactly when he realised that other children grew up in homes that weren't laboratories and didn't have to spend hours every week being tested for who knew what, but it was only the first in a whole series of signs that something was different about him.

He thought joining SOLDIER would put an end to it: there, nobody would know. But he found himself the youngest by some years, because despite not wanting it, he was always the exception; the others seemed to have collectively decided to overlook him.

There was no alternative, so he grew into it: he could never blend in, so he learnt to stand out.
metogator: (Default)

[personal profile] metogator 2021-02-08 06:53 pm (UTC)(link)
As if the Witch wasn’t already creepy enough, let’s add EXPERIMENTAL TORTURE :/ poor Ed!!
loveandrockmusic: (Default)

Re: Ok take 2

[personal profile] loveandrockmusic 2021-02-08 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh my!!! So lovely??!!!! the image of Edmund Scissorhands as the image of justice is fucking BRILLIANT. My friend, you never cease to surprise me!
ravenlilyrose: (Default)

Written in Ink and Tears

[personal profile] ravenlilyrose 2021-02-08 06:57 pm (UTC)(link)
It is easy to believe that all that happened to him was a dream--a very strange dream, but a dream nevertheless--especially when he is alone at school and isolated from all those who have shared his experiences and know what he is going through.

Eustace is sitting at his desk one day when he looks to the side and notices an old notebook, the pages of which are blank but one and that is easily removed.

He opens the book and begins to write because this will be his companion and his proof and what makes it such that his story actually happened; the reality of it put down in ink and bathed in tears and shared only with those who were the very closest to him and shared part of his story.

Obsidian & Blood, Teomitl & Mihmatini

[personal profile] notapaladin 2021-02-08 07:05 pm (UTC)(link)
He's standing in front of his wife, sword in the dirt between them, and he knows this can't ever be fixed--that he was too greedy, reached too far, foolishly thought it would all come together when the people he loved knew, knew, that it was falling apart.

Mihmatini meets his eyes, her own gaze absolutely furious, and asks, "Why? Why did--what in the gods' names possessed you to think this was all a good idea? Tizoc-tzin is unfit to be Emperor, that's true, we all know it--but for you to think to kill him--"

"He was going to kill Acatl." It comes out in a rush, without any prior planning or thought on his part, but it's the truth. Tizoc might be his Emperor, his brother, but he tried to execute Acatl for treason and that's not something Teomitl will ever forgive.

And Mihmatini, who loves her older brother as much as Teomitl does, stares at him for a long, long moment...and then she nods. "Understandable."

Maybe, Teomitl thinks, this can be salvaged after all.
metogator: (Default)

Last Battle AU, maybe?!

[personal profile] metogator 2021-02-08 07:05 pm (UTC)(link)
“Susan?!” Eustace yelps when they creep out of the hunting lodge to find the source of sudden disturbance glaring around her, incongruously modern English dress against the gleaming bow and horn she grasps.

“Did...Aslan send you?” Jill asks warily, more than a little fearful of this least-known Pevensie cousin.

“Of course he did,” Susan snaps, “since nobody else seems to be able
to get the job done!”
wingedflight: (Default)

[personal profile] wingedflight 2021-02-08 07:05 pm (UTC)(link)
It is a heavy, stormy night and only natural, therefore, for the girl to slip from her bed and creep down the hall to her mother's bedroom. Her mother is not yet asleep; she pulls aside to allow her daughter room beneath the covers and, at the daughter's request, distracts from the thunder with the stories of another world.

Stroking her daughter's hair, Susan begins softly, "Have I ever told you of the first time I sailed to the Lone Islands?"
wingedflight: (Default)

Re: Last Battle AU, maybe?!

[personal profile] wingedflight 2021-02-08 07:06 pm (UTC)(link)
LOLOLOL I want more of this!
metogator: (Default)

[personal profile] metogator 2021-02-08 07:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Oooooh, this is nice and sad and soft and sharp!!
theseatheseatheopensea: Lyrics from the song Stolen property, by The Triffids, handwritten by David McComb. (Default)

Re: Written in Ink and Tears

[personal profile] theseatheseatheopensea 2021-02-08 07:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Ahhh, this is wonderful!
ravenlilyrose: (Default)

Re: Written in Ink and Tears

[personal profile] ravenlilyrose 2021-02-08 07:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks! I'm glad you like it!
vindoletta: (Default)

Neofeudalist dystopia part 2

[personal profile] vindoletta 2021-02-08 07:32 pm (UTC)(link)
That year, empty bellies had given way to dazed eyes, twig-like arms and, finally, meager feasts of emaciated corpses for the vermin.

The next, much to the puzzlement of the technocrat lords, all potato crops failed. If the villeins smuggled a few throughout autumn and winter and left the rest underground, well, they didn't have to know.



(Part 1: https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/166704.html?thread=9561904#cmt9561904)
harmony_lover: (Default)

Re: So many ideas, so little time!

[personal profile] harmony_lover 2021-02-08 07:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Bring on the stars! 100%! :)
vialethe: (Susan)

From There No More Ever I Spoke

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-02-08 07:47 pm (UTC)(link)
“Did you forget,” she asks, head tilted to the side, her gaze sharp as the arrows her fingers twitch in memory of holding, “that there is no one else left here to remember you, to tell of you, to spread everything you taught us to believe in?”

Aslan does not answer; whether he can not or will not, she doesn’t know, only that he’s never spoken to her here, in this chill, damp land she has to make her own.

“And I will not,” she says, shoulders aching with the desire to pull back and let fly, with the need to end, “not for all the promise of heaven in the world,” and if his golden image flickers and fades as she turns, wild-eyed, from the cliff edge, there’s no one left to see it.