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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

















(Anonymous) 2021-02-01 12:07 am (UTC)(link)
The Little Mermaid, Prince/Princess/Mermaid, happy ending
last_haven: (writer)

[personal profile] last_haven 2021-02-01 05:21 am (UTC)(link)
Just before the wedding, the mermaid sits all alone and weeps--or at least she does until suddenly a gentle hand startles her as it wipes away her tears. The princess looks at her, eyes so unbearably kind, and says "here now. You are lovely even in tears, but they don't suit you anymore than they do myself. My prince has told me you do not speak with words, but maybe we can find a way around it. Wouldn't that be better than crying?"

And it is, and finally the mermaid tells her story. Things abruptly change after that--the wedding is postponed, but not cancelled, and the Prince holds her so warmly while the princess braids the hair out the mermaid's face that all the heartache seems worth it.

The wedding does proceed, but there is much talk about how quickly the Prince takes a mistress, and then there is even more talk about the Princess has taken up with that mistress as well. But the cruel gossip is below the happy trio, and it matters not anyway. The three have each other and is that not enough?

(Anonymous) 2021-02-01 09:16 am (UTC)(link)
there for it!
last_haven: (Default)

[personal profile] last_haven 2021-02-01 04:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Happy endings for everyone, damnit! They all deserve it.

(Anonymous) 2021-02-04 03:38 am (UTC)(link)
Bravo! A perfect ending!
last_haven: (Default)

[personal profile] last_haven 2021-02-05 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
Glad to do it justice!
edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)

[personal profile] edenfalling 2021-02-07 05:24 am (UTC)(link)
♥ ♥ ♥
violsva: full bookshelf with ladder (Default)

[personal profile] violsva 2021-02-11 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
She woke up near dawn on her wedding night, warm and not sure what had awakened her, until she saw a dark figure standing over her and froze, sure it was some enemy of hers or of her husband’s—but—

—but the eyes that stared back were as wide and frightened as her own, the shoulders as narrow, the hands holding the knife as delicate. It was a girl, and not any girl but the mute one who had danced so beautifully at their wedding that she had half fallen in love with her, and her hand on the knife was shaking.

“What has happened—what can you want here?” she asked, and the strange girl’s eyes brightened until tears fell out of them, so she pulled the girl into bed next to her—the knife dropped to the floor—and held her, hoping that human comfort and affection might do something to calm whatever terrified fit had brought her here tonight.

(Anonymous) 2021-02-16 06:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Nice fill!