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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

















sandinmyboots: (Default)

[personal profile] sandinmyboots 2021-01-31 10:41 pm (UTC)(link)
The inn on the Qinge-Lanling border is full of juniors wearing many colors, teens on the cusp of adulthood, and every time Wen Ning looks to the man sharing a table with him, he half-expects him to see another one of those boys. He still sees a nineteen year old in his own reflection; it's surreal to see the passage of time marking the face of a man he'd once taken classes with.

"I never expected to see you like this," Wen Ning confesses.

"What's more surprising? That I'm sect leader, or that I survived long enough to become sect leader?" Nie Huaisang asks, and flicks Wen Ning's shoulder with his fan. His smile is rueful; the boy who had once read poetry with him in the Cloud Recesses is near forty now, broad-shouldered in black, the rose curl of a leader's braids heavy on his head.

How much he had changed - and yet that tentative look in his eye is the same as it had been almost twenty years before, playing in the river after class, trading books, ducking their guardians to stargaze -

A war is coming. But that doesn't mean we can't be friends now, before it's happened, does it?

"You were never this serious when we were young," Wen Ning says. "But it's not all bad. Black suits you - and I need to thank you."

"For what?"

"You know what."

Nie Huaisang's smile sharpens, a saber's edge, for just a moment before it's sheathed. "It was a selfish thing, you know."

"Does it matter? I've done worse for better reasons." He couldn't know if his helping Wei Wuxian had created the monster that had destroyed his sect. He couldn't know if his existence was the reason his family was hunted down in the end -

Besides, how could he begrudge the vengeance of a little brother when it had raised his best friend and avenged his sister in the same act?

"Perhaps not," Nie Huaisang acknowledges. "This Nie-zhongzhu wouldn't know anything about that kind of thing. I haven't seen you since I was a hostage, after all.Remember that time I got heatstroke and almost fell in a well?"

"That was not as funny as you think it was."

"It was hilarious! The point is that we've got a lot to catch up on." Nie Huaisang tapped his fan against his chin. "So. If you're just night hunting with the young Lan-gongzi to make sure he's safe, and I am just here to give my shidis a little experience while I go birdwatching, it wouldn't be too irregular for you to escort me home, would it? Let my little juniors get a taste of Lan professionalism."

What a coincidence that the Nie sect leader was out on this part of the border, on this day, with a dozen convenient excuses following behind him like ducklings - but once upon a time, a boy had coincidentally fallen into a mud puddle so Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian could go running in the back hills without Lan Wangji interfering, and once upon a time, Wei Wuxian had come back from the dead with no debts save those he'd taken upon himself.

"A-Yuan hasn't been to Qinghe before. Can you show him around?"

"I can think of something," Nie Huaisang says. He is nearly forty, and his eyes sparkle like they did when he was seventeen, and he is smiling at Wen Ning like he once did years ago.

Wen Ning smiles back. He didn't expect a reunion, but he'll welcome it anyway.
conuly: (Default)

Re: Happy birthday!!!

[personal profile] conuly 2021-01-31 10:41 pm (UTC)(link)
It ALWAYS includes I Want to Go Home :D
lonespark: (Djaq2)

[personal profile] lonespark 2021-01-31 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
What We Do In The Shadows (TV), Derek, anything
wingedflight: (Default)

[personal profile] wingedflight 2021-01-31 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
AMAZING
pilfered_words: Escher bird tessellation, colored with watercolor pencil (Default)

[personal profile] pilfered_words 2021-01-31 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
"Ah," Marthe said, and smiled coldly. "I see you were expecting my dear brother Francis. Lord Culter, whenever you have a moment to spare, I should like to have a word with you."


oops
eagleoftheninth: (Default)

[personal profile] eagleoftheninth 2021-01-31 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Is it ok to repost and fill a prompt here if it already had fills on the previous years' posts?
conuly: (Default)

[personal profile] conuly 2021-01-31 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Poor Weasley kids! But it's better this way, really.
conuly: (Default)

[personal profile] conuly 2021-01-31 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)
LOL.
primeideal: Wooden chessboard. Text: "You may see all kinds of human emotion here. I see nothing other than a simple board game." (chess musical)

Wheel of Time: Mat/Tuon

[personal profile] primeideal 2021-01-31 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
"I wove you this patch," says Tuon proudly, "because the Prince of the Ravens should not look like he got a scar in a pub fight."

"You wove?" Mat asks, because Tuon admitting that she can channel without a damane would almost make up for the embarrassment of having to wear that flaming thing on his face at court occasions.

But no, she actually crafted it herself seam by seam, and the worst part of it is she doesn't even appreciate the irony that he is now a Knot-eye.

(Anonymous) 2021-01-31 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Any, any, even if that's the way they are, that doesn't mean that's the way they have to be

(Anonymous) 2021-01-31 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
The Magicians (TV), Penny Adiyodi/Benedict Pickwick, some classic trope like Shared Warmth, There Was Only One Bed, etc.
primeideal: Multicolored sideways eight (infinity sign) (Default)

[personal profile] primeideal 2021-01-31 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Hahahaha excellent!
intrikate88: (Default)

[personal profile] intrikate88 2021-01-31 10:47 pm (UTC)(link)
The ice-breaking ship crashes through the solid, beautiful ice, churning up the water below and the peace of that dark, cold world. The sailors are jovial, boasting of the whales they've seen, while Eric smiles indulgently and takes Ariel's hand as they look over the railing together.

She shivers and misses the thick layer of fat she once had, before she was stripped down to a body just larger than her bones, and she thinks of her seal-tailed sisters bursting up through holes in the ice to slide around laughing at each other, but she has no words and will not seal-bark at the dark ocean so she just shows her teeth in a smile to the prince instead.

(Anonymous) 2021-01-31 10:47 pm (UTC)(link)
IDK about you, but I always feel it's better to ask forgiveness than permission. Especially if you do it anonymously....
vialethe: (Lion in Winter)

Can I Reach You

[personal profile] vialethe 2021-01-31 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
“It’s not that I don’t see how it helps me - god knows I’d love to get every girl who ever dreamed of marrying a prince and has decided a duke will do instead off my back - but how, precisely, does pretending to date me improve your social standing with other men?”

At his side, Daphne rolls her eyes and blows out an exaggerated sigh, her heavy bangs lifting, shining in the sunlight for a moment like fire - not, of course, that he’s noticed that, not one bit; nor is it in the least at all attractive.

“Simon, you’re my brother’s best friend,” she says, tucking her arm through his, cuddling up next to him as though she belongs there, holding up her phone to get a selfie (and she does fit alarmingly well, really - and even he has to admit the results are Instagram-perfect), “and, since you’re not an idiot, I know that means you know exactly how absurdly competitive men are - they never want something quite so much as when another man already has it,” and the way she smirks up at him, with those big blue eyes issuing a silent challenge, tells him this is going to be a problem - but damned if she isn’t right, because the thought of another guy claiming her already has his blood burning, his hand tightening on hers, even as his other hand pulls out his phone, ready to leave a truly disgusting amount of hearts on her post.
lonespark: Miko from Stargate:Atlantis (Miko)

[personal profile] lonespark 2021-01-31 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Killjoys, Dutch/Zeph, experiment/research
Edited 2021-01-31 22:54 (UTC)
wingedflight: (Default)

[personal profile] wingedflight 2021-01-31 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
The constellations are bright overhead as the royal couple dance atop the palace. The tiles are as firm as the ballroom floor beneath Irene's slippers, and Gen's hand is warm against her skin, and her hair flies loose about her face every time she spins. When she looks up, she can almost believe the constellations are dancing, too.

(Anonymous) 2021-01-31 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Any, any, to everybody's silent disappointment there are actually more than enough beds.
smallhobbit: (Default)

Fill

[personal profile] smallhobbit 2021-01-31 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Hamlet couldn't decide which was worse, Claudius, his new 'father' wearing a paper hat and blowing a plastic trumpet, or his mother laughing, actually laughing, at the jokes from the crackers. Ophelia seemed to be holding the wreath from the front door, and pulling it apart, handing berries and holly leaves to all and sundry. And then, worst of all, he had been trapped underneath the mistletoe by a very drunk Laertes.
fucktheg0ds: (agron)

Fill: Xena: Warrior Princess, Gabrielle & Joxer, wrong genre savvy

[personal profile] fucktheg0ds 2021-01-31 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
“Xena must’ve got there too late — the wrath of the gods has been unleashed on the world!” Gabrielle yelled, gripping one of the temple’s Doric columns for dear life as the whirlwind threatened to sweep away everything in its path.

Joxer, who was holding onto his own column, tried to reassure her: “Don’t worry, Gabrielle; we still have time to reverse the polarity so the universe can reset itself.”

“Reverse the what?” she cried, wishing not for the first time that she’d gone to confront the gods on Olympus with Xena instead of staying behind with this annoying lunatic.

(Anonymous) 2021-01-31 10:51 pm (UTC)(link)
any vampire media, any, trans vampire(s)
primeideal: Multicolored sideways eight (infinity sign) (Default)

[personal profile] primeideal 2021-01-31 10:51 pm (UTC)(link)
The only song I know from the old world is this: once upon a time there was a man made out of snow. He led a band of children down to the place where the vehicles moved, and ignored the voice of the man who tried to enforce the rules. And before he disappeared, he promised them that in their hour of need, he would return.

tw COVID-19

(Anonymous) 2021-01-31 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Alec comes to on the thin hard cot in the doctors' lounge with sand in his eyes and an iron claw about his heart. He's not even sure he's awake — his dreams, like his waking hours, resound with
rib-heaving coughs, with wet desperate gurgles, with the frigid, robotic breaths of ventilators; and after yesterday he doesn't want to do this anymore, he wants to run, past the ICU, past the nurses' station, past the fucking gift shop, out the Infirmary, through the park, over the A1, screaming all the way, until he stops short at the Firth and can rip off his stethoscope and hurl it into the wind-churned waters and maybe himself in after it.

"I think you'll be going nowhere for the morning," says a familiar voice from the doorway; the rich smell of fresh, hot cullen skink curls into Alec's nostrils, and embarrassing tears rise to wash the sand away: he need not sink for good, only for a little while.
primeideal: Multicolored sideways eight (infinity sign) (Default)

Re: [Star Wars] Unexpected Headlines

[personal profile] primeideal 2021-01-31 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Hahaha this is great :D

Re: An average day aboard Perihelion

(Anonymous) 2021-01-31 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
When all you have is not a weapon, suddenly, everything looks like debris.