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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

















syrena_of_the_lake: (Default)

Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me no match

[personal profile] syrena_of_the_lake 2021-01-31 11:02 pm (UTC)(link)
(I couldn’t stop with just one.)

“That one would be perfect for you, Susan, you could be boring together.” Lucy was all of nine years old, and the game was on: who could spot the worst match first? With so many contenders, it soon became a contest of creativity: who could find the most ridiculous reason for rejecting a thoroughly unsuitable suitor without offending him?
-
“I’m sorry, my lord, but my sister cannot abide buck teeth as a fashion statement — she feels it a mockery of our dear friends the Beavers, although I know you do not mean it as such!” Susan’s wide, imploring eyes softened the blow, and she breathed a sigh of relief when the man shrugged philosophically and bowed out.
It was infuriating that he should accept *that* explanation and yet be so blind to the truth: Lucy would never have tolerated anyone who cruelly insulted others’ appearances at every turn (Cook had been crying and stewing tripe for days).
-
“My sister trusts her horse’s judgment,” Lucy said truthfully. “If you make friends with her mare, you will surely win her over.”
She watched from a safe distance while the obnoxious princeling bribed the stablemaster for a moment alone with Love, also known as Hell-Bitch, and mentally promised the mare a handful of sugar cubes... from someone’s hand other than her own.

“Quick, Su, who should I dance with first?” Peter hissed, but he should have asked *before* pairing Susan with the Ambassador Sendry, the worst dancer on two feet west of the sea — honestly, she would have been safer doing the reel with Rumblebuffin.
“Ask Lucy,” she sniffed and limped over to the punch bowl; with any luck, Edmund had spiked it.
Peter watched her go with wide eyes, and decided to ask the first princess he saw in a blue gown — surely pure chance would be better than anyone Lucy would send his way.
-
“I’m never certain when she’s serious,” muttered Peter. His companion fluttered her absurdly long eyelashes and leered at him.
“Even Lucy wouldn’t seriously propose you court a camel,” snorted Edmund (and Peter almost could have kissed the camel when it spat at his brother in retaliation... almost).
-
“I really thought they’d be happy together,” Lucy sniffled, and for one alarming moment Peter thought she meant Susan and Rabadash. “But Cor said he’d rather dig for water in the desert and Aravis said she’d rather veil her face for all eternity and — oh, Peter, now they won’t even look at each other and it’s all my fault!”
Privately, Peter thought that — for once — Lucy had the right of it, but he knew better than to say so.
-
“You set me up with Banker Morgan on purpose!” Edmund shook his pen at Lucy, splattering her gown with ink.
“How?” she asked mildly.
“By not trying to set us up! — that is, by reverse psychology!” he leveled the accusation and the pen, which dripped more ink on the carpet, and Lucy was laughing so hard she didn’t even deny it.
-
Back in England, the prospect of dating was no more appealing than the onslaught of suitors had been the first time around.
“You should ask that one to dance,” Lucy said to Jack idly, pointing out a freckled blonde girl with no obvious flaws except that Lucy knew her from school, and she was beastly to the little kids, “and then step on all her toes.”
“I’d rather step on yours,” blurted Jack, and they blinked at each other in confusion.
-
“Don’t say you told me so,” Susan sighed, “I already know Tebbitt is thoroughly unsuitable in every way—“
Lucy frowned, ready to object that she thought Susan and Reginald were perfect for each other, actually — but fortunately for them all, Susan kept talking.
“— but I can’t help it, Lucy, even if you gathered all the eligible men in England for me to choose among, I would still pick Tebbit!”
“Good,” said Lucy, “since he’s waiting for you in the parlor,” and she had the rare pleasure of seeing Susan blush.
autumnia: Central Park (Default)

Re: Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me no match

[personal profile] autumnia 2021-01-31 11:12 pm (UTC)(link)
LOL well, Lucy isn't a terrible matchmaker all of the time! She did get it right with a few here.
loveandrockmusic: (Default)

Re: Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me no match

[personal profile] loveandrockmusic 2021-02-01 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
OH MY GODD!!!! *SQUEE*

Firstly let me say that was I was already loving these as i read down the list, but when I saw Tebbitt pop up as the grand finale (so approp) I DIED. I loved every single one of these!!! Edmund spiking the punch bowl, the camel batting its eyes at Peter, COR AND ARAVIS (the many layers of POV meta are mindblowing!!!), and Lucy and Jack in a three sentence romcom?? GOLD I TELL YOU, GOLD!
last_haven: (Default)

Re: Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me no match

[personal profile] last_haven 2021-02-01 05:00 am (UTC)(link)
So much of this is "I can't tell if Lucy is just a troll or really misguided" but I love all of it.

Re: Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me no match

(Anonymous) 2021-02-01 07:31 am (UTC)(link)
All of this is amazing!
snacky: (Default)

Re: Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me no match

[personal profile] snacky 2021-02-06 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, fun times with Lucy, lol!