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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

















raisedbymoogles: (Default)

[personal profile] raisedbymoogles 2021-02-08 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
(this motherfucker was NOT going to be limited to three sentences no matter how I try to replace periods with semicolons so I just gave myself free reign to ramble sorry!!!! XD)

Barret sets the steaming mug of tea down with a clunk, and orders, "Drink, you moron, or you're gonna hate yourself in the morning." Reeve mutters into his collection of empties and Barret prods him suspiciously. "What?"

"I said," Reeve says, only barely slurring, "too late." He nudges the mug aside with his knuckles. "Don't like tea anyway."

There's a lot of things Barret wants to call him. Ungrateful bastard gets top billing, along with dumbass and coward, but Tifa told him to make an effort so he's making an effort, goddammit. "I can dump half a jar of honey in it if you want," he offers instead, and gets an almost-amused snort for his efforts. "What? You think that's not how I take mine?"

Reeve lets his head fall forward, thumping against his arm and against an empty glass that Barret quickly rescues. "Just let me have this," the last of the Shinra execs pleads. "Just one night. I know you've got a conscience, don't act like you've never drowned your ghosts in alcohol."

Which might be the nicest thing Reeve's ever said to a terrorist, but Barret isn't about to point it out - instead he sighs, leans on the bartop. "Never had the luxury," he says, low-voiced. "Had Marlene to think of." Reeve makes a wordless noise of acknowledgement. "Won't say I wasn't tempted."

"Nh."

"Besides, what're you feeling guilty about? You did everything-" Damn, but you did everything you could sounds like a condemnation with the smoking ruins of Midgar looming behind them, with the ghosts of everyone Reeve couldn't save gathered in the abandoned bar. "You did everything right," Barret finishes, and even that doesn't feel like the right thing to say.

Reeve snorts again. "That's me, Mister By-The-Book." He lifts his head, just enough to prop it on his arm. "Maybe if I'd had the guts to do a few things wrong none of us would be here."

That's - way too much to take on one set of shoulders and even Barret knows it, but he'd have to out himself as a hypocrite if he brought up Corel now. Besides, what's he think he could've done - sit on Sephiroth? Organize a coup? It would've been the world's only coup with clipboards-

Reeve snaps a glare at him and Barret coughs to try and recover from the laugh that snuck up on him. "You woulda made a shit terrorist, that's all," he explains, and hall-fuckin-lujah that actually gets him a watery smile. "Maybe you better leave the rule-breakin' to me."

In demonstration, Barret reaches over and picks up the last glass of Cosmo Canyon tequila in front of Reeve. "To doing everything wrong," he announces, and drains it dry.

As he coughs for real - because fuck tequila, that stuff's terrible - Reeve laughs and picks up the cooling mug of tea. "To doing everything right."
wallwalker: Venetian mask, dark purple with gold gilding. (Default)

[personal profile] wallwalker 2021-02-08 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
The voice of this is perfect, thank you so much! Poor Reeve, and I appreciate Barret trying his best.
raisedbymoogles: (Default)

[personal profile] raisedbymoogles 2021-02-08 01:37 pm (UTC)(link)
<3333 thank you for the prompt! I knew I was going to write it as soon as I saw it.
queenlua: Red XIII from Final Fantasy 7. (Red XIII)

[personal profile] queenlua 2021-02-13 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
Tifa told him to make an effort so he's making an effort, goddammit

d'awwww. he's trying!!!!

It would've been the world's only coup with clipboards-

i lol'd too, barret :P

gosh this was a lovely heartfelt lil' thing, thanks for sharing!

(also... Cosmo Canyon makes tequila... i am DELIGHTED, lol)
raisedbymoogles: (Default)

[personal profile] raisedbymoogles 2021-02-13 02:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Cosmo Canyon just feels like a tequila kind of place to me. (Barret's right though tequila is blech)