rthstewart: (Default)
rthstewart ([personal profile] rthstewart) wrote2022-01-15 12:00 pm

Three Sentence Ficathon 2022

This post is NOW CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS!  PLEASE POST YOUR NEW PROMPTS HERE, IN POST 2!  Do continue to fill prompts here but please put all new prompts in Post 2.






 
Welcome to the Three Sentence Ficathon!

Here's a Friending meme!

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 at bit after about 2 weeks and especially once we open a new post because this one is approaching 4,500 comments.
  • 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.

Here's my attempt at a text box that might go horribly awry.






How long will it go?

The 3SF closes to new prompts on February 13, 2022. The entry stays open permanently and people post fills all year long.  (There were a bunch of new posts to the 2021 3SF this week!)

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 (and much more). 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, protect yourself, 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 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.

 

Here, have some icons and banners and let me know if you've created your own!



      


















kalira: cartoon representation of Kalira (pale skin, long brown hair, fangy smile, with thumb and two fingers raised), wearing a black tank top and cardigan, on a galaxy in ace flag stripes/colours (Default)

[personal profile] kalira 2022-01-15 07:31 pm (UTC)(link)
any, any, magic mirror
ernest: (Default)

Pathologic, Daniil Dankovsky

[personal profile] ernest 2022-01-16 08:55 am (UTC)(link)
The Specular Tower, they call it, the Crystal Rose, an incredible structure covered with mirrors and said to reflect the desires or true nature back to the person perceiving it; so why, thinks Daniil, does he see a building folded out of its own blueprints? His working theories are that his studious nature allows him to see past the illusion to the reality of the Polyhedron, or that as an incomplete creation himself he is doomed to see beginnings with no end in sight.

As it turns out, the real magic of these mirrors is the way the stairs within swallow themselves down and down until he is once more on the exterior of that Klein bottle of a town, playing in the sand with children who won’t hear him.
little_lady_d: (Default)

Re: Pathologic, Daniil Dankovsky

[personal profile] little_lady_d 2022-01-17 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
ooh this is a cool concept, i love this take on the specular tower, and the town as a klein bottle. (i also love how daniil's theories reflect his teetering opinion of himself.)
ernest: (Default)

Re: Pathologic, Daniil Dankovsky

[personal profile] ernest 2022-01-18 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
yesss! the polyhedron was what really dragged me into pathologic, and i love thinking about the different ways it might appear depending on the observer. and i'm delighted that you picked up on how fragile and teetering daniil's self-image is. love giving this man a hard time, he's my favorite character :D
little_lady_d: (Default)

Re: Pathologic, Daniil Dankovsky

[personal profile] little_lady_d 2022-01-18 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
he has a very high opinion of himself, but always teetering (like things built too high do, unless they’re built by the stamatins). that’s my boy. :D
mad_madam_m: Mad Madam Mim as a dragon (Default)

Castlvania (Netflix series), Dracula/Lisa, Trevor, OCs, Mirror Mirror

[personal profile] mad_madam_m 2022-01-18 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
"And just what is this?" Belmont asks, walking around the mirror that is at least a full hand taller than he is.

Lisa smiles beatifically. "It's a gift. A peace offering, if you will." She pats Vlad on the shoulder. "Isn't it, dear?"

Vlad growls, although it's more form than anything at this point—they've had the Belmonts over for tea too many times by now for Lisa to believe he's actually upset about this. "A magic mirror. Its companion is in my castle. My wife felt it would be an...appropriate truce."

"And it will make for much less traveling whenever Adrian and Trevor want to play," Lisa adds.

Belmont taps the edge of the mirror and chuckles, shaking his head. "Never thought I'd see the day the house of Belmont would be accepting a gift from Dracula."

Vlad sighs. "That makes two of us."

---

Lisa is sitting in her husband's study with her embroidery, working her way along the pattern that lines the handkerchief, when the mirror in the corner suddenly swirls to life. She jerks up, shocked, and opens her mouth to call out for Vlad—there's no reason for the mirror to be working, not this late—

A boy only a few years older than her son tumbles through, along with a younger girl, both with dark hair and bright blue eyes and Lisa's heart leaps into her throat.

She drops her embroidery and darts over to catch both of the children before they collapse. "Trevor! Katerina! What's happened? Are you hurt?"

Trevor looks up at her, obviously scared and trying hard not to show it, and wraps a protective arm around his little sister. "The Church came for us. They set the house on fire."

No. Lisa hugs them tightly, her heart hammering in her throat, and shouts for her husband.
kalira: cartoon representation of Kalira (pale skin, long brown hair, fangy smile, with thumb and two fingers raised), wearing a black tank top and cardigan, on a galaxy in ace flag stripes/colours (Default)

Re: Castlvania (Netflix series), Dracula/Lisa, Trevor, OCs, Mirror Mirror

[personal profile] kalira 2022-01-18 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
Aaaaa! *chinhands*

Delightful, delightful first scene and I love the for-form growl and the amusement, and then aaa the poor children and Lisa's immediate very real and very reasonable alarm, I love it all and also in conclusion *aaaa*~
mad_madam_m: Mad Madam Mim as a dragon (Default)

Re: Castlvania (Netflix series), Dracula/Lisa, Trevor, OCs, Mirror Mirror

[personal profile] mad_madam_m 2022-01-18 04:57 pm (UTC)(link)
I know we've talked about bits of this AU before, so when I saw this prompt, I had to. I HAD TO. I'm so glad you enjoyed it! <3
kalira: cartoon representation of Kalira (pale skin, long brown hair, fangy smile, with thumb and two fingers raised), wearing a black tank top and cardigan, on a galaxy in ace flag stripes/colours (Default)

Re: Castlvania (Netflix series), Dracula/Lisa, Trevor, OCs, Mirror Mirror

[personal profile] kalira 2022-01-18 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
We have and I love it~ I hadn't even thought of it when leaving the prompt, but I'm so glad you did. <3
notoriousreign: (Default)

Descendants, Evie, magic mirror

[personal profile] notoriousreign 2022-01-20 02:53 am (UTC)(link)
She sees it as a burden sometimes, as a reminder of her mother and how every time she even thought about mirrors for years she would think of that woman. “Magic mirror on the wall, if I’m not the fairest of them all then neither is my daughter.”

But Evie is stronger and surrounded with a better foundation now, that barrier finally gone; all of them were able to smile really smile without the lies of a magic mirror surrounding them.
severina: by me (writing: little guy with pen)

Queer as Folk (US), Brian/Justin

[personal profile] severina 2022-02-13 10:13 pm (UTC)(link)
When Justin is feeling stressed out – too little money, not enough time, restaurant shifts too long, gallery showings too few – he remembers what he and Brian looked like in the mirror before their aborted wedding, their twined images stretching to infinity, and it brings him solace, reminds him that he is never alone.

"Very poetic," Brian drawls. "Now blow me."

Ah yes, his visits home never fail to remind him of how unfailingly romantic Brian is, too.