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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

















shinon: Shinon and Gatrie from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. (Default)

[personal profile] shinon 2021-02-07 02:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Any, any, I know there's better brothers, but you're the only one that's mine
wallwalker: Venetian mask, dark purple with gold gilding. (Default)

Mine (FFVI, Edgar + Sabin, SFW)

[personal profile] wallwalker 2021-02-07 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
"You know you'll always have a place to come back to when you're ready, Sabin," Edgar tells his brother as he packs his bags; tears are running down Sabin's face and Edgar is barely keeping his own at bay, knowing that they'll look to him for guidance when the news about their father breaks.

Sabin looks back at him for a moment, frowning, then sighs deeply; his voice breaks as he speaks: "I'm running away from everything... I'm the worst brother in the world."

"No, you're not," Edgar says, putting one hand on his brother's shoulder, "and I know that because you're my brother."
Edited (forgot subject) 2021-02-07 20:02 (UTC)
shinon: Shinon and Gatrie from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. (Default)

Re: Mine (FFVI, Edgar + Sabin, SFW)

[personal profile] shinon 2021-02-08 04:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I love this so much. These two and their baggage! Edgar trying to hold it together for everyone! Just perfect.
tiny_ninja: (ff;; badass ladies)

Re: Mine (FFVI, Edgar + Sabin, SFW)

[personal profile] tiny_ninja 2021-02-08 10:00 pm (UTC)(link)
My heart!!
tellshannon815: (damon)

The Vampire Diaries, Damon and Stefan

[personal profile] tellshannon815 2021-02-08 12:48 am (UTC)(link)

Damon was a vampire because Stefan had convinced him to complete the transition, Katherine had chosen Stefan over him back in 1864, Damon could have been forgiven for thinking there were better brothers out there than Stefan.

But at the same time, he acknowledges that over the last century and a half there’s been plenty of times Damon’s been a dick to Stefan himself, and Stefan was the one who was determined to get him back that time he was under Armory control.

Damon and Stefan have both had reason to think over the years that they could have had a better brother than the one they had, and yet at the same time, both would have laid down their lives for each other by the end; what mattered to both Damon and Stefan was that the other was HIS brother.
melime: (Default)

Star Trek, Spock & Sybok, My brother

[personal profile] melime 2021-02-28 05:34 am (UTC)(link)
Even now, Spock wished there was something he could have done for Sybok, someway to reach him before he was lost in a path of no return, where his only shot of redemption came at the cost of his own life.

In truth, they had never been particularly close, perhaps because they hadn't spent their early childhoods under the same roof, or perhaps because as a full Vulcan Sybok was permitted some freedoms that Spock would never enjoy, being always judged for his human half, and so having his feelings policed to a greater level than any other Vulcan, to his detriment and in a way that would have lasting and damaging consequences that he needed decades to overcome, so perhaps he had resented Sybok, both for being freer than he would ever be and for his emotional outbursts that lead to his banishment but also made so that Spock was watched with even greater scrutiny, for fears that he too would follow on the path of their ancestors and abdicate his emotional control.

Sybok was the worst brother he could have had, but he was still his brother, and so, despite their differences, Spock wished he could have saved him.

Obsidian & Blood, Acatl & Neutemoc

[personal profile] notapaladin 2021-03-03 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
Things between them hadn’t been good for over a decade, not since Acatl had joined the priesthood and crushed their parents’ dreams, but he’d thought they’d been getting better. He thought they’d been getting better. They’d been speaking, at least, and Neutemoc had been fighting alongside him. There had been space for something new to grow out of the shattered remnants of what had been.

And now he was lying in the mud, cold and still and not breathing why wasn’t he breathing--

Teomitl’s presence at his side was a bonfire in the drizzling rain, but his voice was as careful as a man picking his way through obsidian shards. “I can bring him back, I think,” he murmured. “He’s not so far gone. But...there will be a price.”

Acatl sucked in a sharp, painful breath. “I’ll pay it.” His voice hitched on what was almost a sob. “I’ll pay it, just--please--he’s my brother--”

Teomitl closed his eyes. “Alright.”

When he opened them again, they were jade from end to end and Chalchiuhtlicue’s voice echoed from his lips. Yes, there would be a price, and Jade Skirt was a cruel and capricious goddess. But Neutemoc was curled over and throwing up stagnant lake water, so Acatl would worry about that later.