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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

















wallwalker: Venetian mask, dark purple with gold gilding. (Default)

[personal profile] wallwalker 2021-02-04 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
Any, Any, Just a wolf among the sheep gnawing at the wool over my eyes
fallen_stage: Kuja standing in the wind, facing down Bahamut (Default)

Sheepdog (LoZ: Twilight Princess, Link)

[personal profile] fallen_stage 2021-02-04 02:41 am (UTC)(link)
"Ugh," Midna groaned, "Don't you have any pride?"

Link ignored her, because they both knew the answer to that: not much. Not the kind a princess would care about. Not the kind that kept Link from belly rubs. Townfolk knew less about what a wolf looked like than the more knowledgeable Ordonian villagers, and with the right body language and a playful attitude, even Rusl threw sticks for Link. What kind of wolf waltzed right into a city, tail wagging, tongue lolling, barking and licking hands and ready for play?

Midna scoffed at Link, because she knew better, saw every time Link tore out a throat with bared teeth, licking their chops clean of blood, using the memory of hands to use those claws to tear into enemies. Yet, here they were, surrounded by some castle town children all jostling to get a chance to pet their soft fur. One girl had even tied a bow around their neck.

Honestly, she was just being silly. The first dogs were descended from wolves, everyone knew that. Link had guarded livestock and people alike all their life: why would they be less careful as a beast?
eagleoftheninth: (Default)

Re: Sheepdog (LoZ: Twilight Princess, Link)

[personal profile] eagleoftheninth 2021-02-04 03:27 am (UTC)(link)
Link is the Best Puppy and deserves All The Pettings
fallen_stage: Kuja standing in the wind, facing down Bahamut (Default)

[personal profile] fallen_stage 2021-02-04 03:35 am (UTC)(link)
exactly. tp link is a goatherd so of course they're gonna be a sheepdog! they are the Best doggy and a silly boy girl hero.
wallwalker: Venetian mask, dark purple with gold gilding. (Default)

Re: Sheepdog (LoZ: Twilight Princess, Link)

[personal profile] wallwalker 2021-02-04 02:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Link is a good doggy. This is very cute.
fallen_stage: Kuja standing in the wind, facing down Bahamut (Default)

[personal profile] fallen_stage 2021-02-04 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! The game always made me sad with how everyone would call you a monster ;w; Especially since Link really looks more like a dog than a wolf what with the short muzzle, etc. My wife described them as a "husky with a haircut" and ive never forgot it since.
ernest: (Default)

Fill: Umineko

[personal profile] ernest 2021-02-06 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
There was something you were supposed to do, someone you were supposed to be, the better to spin a tale for the sake of the one person who matters, but somewhere in there you lost the thread. It’s a classic wolves and sheep puzzle and you’ve fooled even yourself so well that you’ve forgotten if you’re a wolf, a sheep, the boat itself, or even the safety of a distant shore.

But those without vision are also devoid of the anti-magic toxin, so maybe you’re lucky to have the wool pulled over your eyes.
little_lady_d: (Default)

Re: Fill: Umineko

[personal profile] little_lady_d 2021-02-18 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
ooh love the layers of metaphor here, wolf and sheep and wool, the rules of magic and anti-magic, the blind leading the blind to the distant shore. and beatrice, getting her ends mixed up with her means, at the heart of her metaphors tangled up like sheepskein.
ernest: (Default)

Re: Fill: Umineko

[personal profile] ernest 2021-02-18 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)
thank you! i love beatrice and the person behind beatrice and how they're all trying to be a guide or a trap but don't know which one they want to be more.