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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) 2021-02-09 08:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Separated from his guards by unexpected rock-fall after spending a long and grueling day trying to convince a Giant that no, this was not in fact Ettin territory he was residing in- and if he could please leave so the pair of Bearded vultures that lived there could stop worrying their meal of bones would be stolen from them, Peter stumbled to a halt at the entrance of a small cave.

He ducked his head to step inside - just a short rest, he thought to himself, then I’ll continue – and immediately pulled to a full stop. He stared at the sight before him:

The cave was filled with low-hanging mist with no apparent source, which swirled around the large rock that made up the center of the room. And on that rock sat one of the oddest looking creatures Peter had ever seen; and that was saying something.

At first glance they looked like a Rabbit, except something in their face wasn’t quite right- and were Rabbits proportioned that way? The Not-Rabbit had their paws held carefully in front of their body, and their eyes were closed. Their look was completed by long whiskers that looked especially like a very long mustache. They appeared to be in some sort of trance.

Peter cleared his throat and the not-rabbit opened their eyes – they stared at each other.

After a moment, Peter pulled himself together and put on his most polite and Royal smile: “Greetings Good Beast, I am Peter, High King of Narnia, well-met.”

The Not-Rabbit kept staring, their eyes at once fathomless and empty: “Is it.”

Peter blinked.

“Is what?” He asked when nothing else was forthcoming.

The Not-Rabbit tugged their long whiskers and paused dramatically. Finally, they said: “Is it well-met, Peter, Highest of Kings, or was it fate that brought us together.”

Peter stared, feeling like this was an interview and he was failing, and did the Not-Rabbit suddenly seem wise and all-knowing, or was that just his imagination?

“Both?” He said, more question than answer.

The Not-Rabbit blinked once, and seemed to come to a decision. They pulled themselves up to their full height (which wasn’t very high) and solemnly said: “Very well, Highest of Kings, I will take you on as my pupil.”

(Anonymous) 2021-02-09 08:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Not Syrena, but I feel like that is a very high compliment :) It's actually ElementalRaven, and I'm really glad you liked it! And yes, that was exactly what I thought when I saw that picture, hence this sort of Yoda-esque cryptic teacher and a Peter that has no idea what he's walked into.
syrena_of_the_lake: (Default)

[personal profile] syrena_of_the_lake 2021-02-11 12:59 am (UTC)(link)
I’m very flattered to be mistaken for YOU, ElementalRaven - this is fantastic!! I love the mystical Not-Rabbit and befuddled Peter and Unseen Forces governing their meeting - and if you ever feel like expanding on this (oh please do), I will be there with bells on!

So... part 2 I guess?

(Anonymous) 2021-02-11 06:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Peter trudged moodily through the halls of Cair Paravel after another session with his new teacher, Vos the Viscacha. So far the time spent in Vos’ cave felt like a waste, as he didn’t seem to do anything besides listen to cryptic advice and try (and fail) to meditate. He hadn’t even been able to figure out where the mist that covered the cave came from.

Still, the bearded vulture couple that lived near Vos’ cave had been giving him regular intelligence reports (in the form of rumors and gossip) whenever he came by, so he supposed that was something.

“Peter, you’re back”, Susan greeted him pleasantly as he walked into his office. She had made herself comfortable behind his desk and when Peter looked around he saw that his other siblings were also scattered about the room. They had clearly been lying in wait for him.

He sighed.

Susan continued: “How was it? Did you learn anything?”

Peter pulled a very unkingly face and let himself fall into the only unoccupied chair in the room. There was no point in trying to pull the wool over his siblings eyes.

“Nothing useful,” he said grumpily, “Just the usual about ‘knowing myself’ and ‘finding inner peace’, and somehow I don’t think they mean the inner peace of Narnia.”

“Oh you can’t give up already, Peter,” Lucy said earnestly, “Vos surely has so much wisdom to share!” She sighed and rested her head on her hand: “I wish I had such an interesting teacher.”

Edmund grinned at him from across the room: “Yes, can’t you find one for us as well, oh Highest of Kings?”

Peter frowned, he immensely regretted ever telling them about that stupid nickname, but Edmund wasn’t finished: “Perhaps hidden in a hollow tree in the midst of the Western Woods?”

“Oh yes,” continued Susan innocently, as Lucy sniggered in the background: “Or perhaps somewhere near our Southern border, close to the sun?”

Peter sighed again. His siblings thought it was hilarious that he’d found his tiny teacher right on the edge of his domain, and had been mocking him about it ever since.

“I wouldn’t laugh so hard if I were you,” Peter told them, “You never know if it might come back to bite you.”

“Oh Peter,” Edmund said, smiling widely: “I don’t think there is any chance of that.”
elementalraven: (Default)

Re: So... part 2 I guess?

[personal profile] elementalraven 2021-02-11 06:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Aah, forgot to log in
elementalraven: (Default)

Re: So... part 2 I guess?

[personal profile] elementalraven 2021-02-11 09:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you :) Yes I figured that Peter would be the kind of hero who has no idea what to do with this kind of teaching, and his siblings would definitely find it all hilarious