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!



      


















violsva: full bookshelf with ladder (Default)

[personal profile] violsva 2022-01-15 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
any, any, and you're not even here / on the coldest night of the year
last_haven: (narnia)

Narnia, Susan

[personal profile] last_haven 2022-01-16 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
There is a candle lit in the front window--Susan knows she's being ridiculous, but it reminds her of a story she only vaguely remembers someone telling her. Leave a candle burning in a window facing a path most likely to be tread and it'll lead the ones you most wish to come home back to you.

It's a silly story--and a waste of a good candle--and it must have come from a dream because for some reason she can only picture the story teller being a beaver. But still, the candle is lit and Susan sits next to it, wrapped up in a blanket with a cup of tea, watching the street.

It's silly and she knows it--no one came back from the train accident, not even back five years ago when it happened--and yet.

The candle still burns in the window, waiting.
ernest: (lemony snicket)

Re: Narnia, Susan

[personal profile] ernest 2022-01-16 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
oh susan, darling! i love how she's still hopeful and fond even as she tells herself it's silly, and i hope it helps her heal a little bit.
vialethe: (Narnia - Susan)

Re: Narnia, Susan

[personal profile] vialethe 2022-01-16 10:13 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, Susan. The beaver meaning it must have been a dream! No one came back!! This is so lonely and aching and delicately sad.
elementalraven: (Default)

Re: Narnia, Susan

[personal profile] elementalraven 2022-01-16 10:25 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, this is so sad :(
Beautifully written!
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: Narnia, Susan

[personal profile] kalira 2022-01-16 04:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Ohhh, I love this; so poignant and while it's sad . . . it feels more sweet. <3
ernest: (Default)

Hadestown, Hades/Persephone

[personal profile] ernest 2022-01-16 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
Hell freezes over that year: everyone gets out of the way as Hades moves from one factory to the next like an ice storm, and no matter how much coal is burned it never gets above freezing.

Finally, in January, the elevator groans into life and ferns of frost bloom around Persephone’s feet as she runs to take her husband’s face in her hands.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she tells him in between kissing the tears she’s certain he’d deny, “The seasons kept me trapped up there and I couldn’t make the autumn arrive no matter how I tried.”
last_haven: (Default)

Re: Hadestown, Hades/Persephone

[personal profile] last_haven 2022-01-16 05:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, I do love the concept of Hadestown freezing over. Also, oh, their reunion is just *chef's kiss*.
ernest: (Default)

Re: Hadestown, Hades/Persephone

[personal profile] ernest 2022-01-18 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
thank you! i love giving them a good connection and reunion, they've earned it.
little_lady_d: (Default)

Re: Hadestown, Hades/Persephone

[personal profile] little_lady_d 2022-01-17 09:27 pm (UTC)(link)
love how vivid your descriptions are, with hades moving from one factory to the next like an ice storm, and the elevator groaning into 'life and ferns of frost' on persephone's arrival.
ernest: (Default)

Re: Hadestown, Hades/Persephone

[personal profile] ernest 2022-01-18 03:10 am (UTC)(link)
thank you! they're each a force of nature, and i think they become even more so in each other's absence, when they don't have their spouse to temper them.
dawen: photo of the face of a calico cat, with stark contrast between her face and the background (Default)

Naruto Founders, Madara

[personal profile] dawen 2022-01-16 09:41 am (UTC)(link)
Madara stands just off the step of the engawa, snow collecting in his wild hair, watching the thick cloud cover and sparse snowflakes, and the way his breath fogs in the night of the coldest winter in years.

Coldest in more ways than one: the house behind him is empty and barren, with none of the painful memories of childhood ghosts but no particularly good memories either; the closest neighbors are too far for the light of their kitchens and dinner tables to shed any proper light on his house; the children run away from him in the streets - even Uchiha children - and he can do nothing but simmer in pain turned to counterproductive anger, remembering when his brothers and cousins used to run up to him fearlessly.

The first birthday after the death of a family member has always hit Madara hard, but now, standing alone in the unusual cold, he misses the warmth of his family the most.
yarnofariadne: morticia addams from the sitcom sitting in a chair (tv: i sent you omens & all kind of signs)

Black Sails, Miranda/Flint/Thomas, down in the trenches remembering with me

[personal profile] yarnofariadne 2022-01-16 01:34 pm (UTC)(link)
One could not reasonably call Nassau cold, even in the dregs of January, yet a chill swept through Miranda down to the bone. Sitting by the fire, she drew no warmth from its flames; it was not due to the temperature that she shivered. The heat of bodies - one far away, the other yet further - was what she lacked, and in its absence she could do little else but pull her shawl tighter, pretending it was their arms, knowing it never would be again.

ao3
demigodscum: Fanart of Ahsoka Tano, done in emerald-adjacent shades of green. (Default)

Re: Black Sails, Miranda/Flint/Thomas, down in the trenches remembering with me

[personal profile] demigodscum 2022-01-18 07:07 am (UTC)(link)
*Deep sigh* oh, Miranda. El Caribe can cure many, many ills and maladies... but not all.
yarnofariadne: morticia addams from the sitcom sitting in a chair (tv: i sent you omens & all kind of signs)

Re: Black Sails, Miranda/Flint/Thomas, down in the trenches remembering with me

[personal profile] yarnofariadne 2022-01-18 08:50 am (UTC)(link)
True ♥
laughingpineapple: (Default)

Re: Black Sails, Miranda/Flint/Thomas, down in the trenches remembering with me

[personal profile] laughingpineapple 2022-01-18 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
Mirandaaaaaaaa ;_; thank you for the sad!
yarnofariadne: morticia addams from the sitcom sitting in a chair (tv: i sent you omens & all kind of signs)

Re: Black Sails, Miranda/Flint/Thomas, down in the trenches remembering with me

[personal profile] yarnofariadne 2022-01-18 08:49 am (UTC)(link)
You're very welcome :D
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)

Bitter Growth (Greek Mythology; Demeter, Hestia, Hades/Persephone)

[personal profile] kalira 2022-01-16 05:03 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, my daughter. . ." Demeter wept into her hands, rocking a little beside Hestia's hearth. "My poor girl, taken so far from me, hidden away. . ."

Hestia sighed and draped a shawl around Demeter's shoulders, though she wasn't sure Demeter felt the bitter cold wrought of her grief, and thought of the bloom of Persephone as she was now - no longer a foolish waif of a girl but a queen.
ernest: (lemony snicket)

Re: Bitter Growth (Greek Mythology; Demeter, Hestia, Hades/Persephone)

[personal profile] ernest 2022-01-18 03:08 am (UTC)(link)
oooh yes, i love how hestia is aware of little details of demeter's grief that demeter herself is not able to see or feel.
yarnofariadne: morticia addams from the sitcom sitting in a chair (misc: wrapped up in rapture)

Re: Bitter Growth (Greek Mythology; Demeter, Hestia, Hades/Persephone)

[personal profile] yarnofariadne 2022-01-18 08:50 am (UTC)(link)
oh I love this ♥
demigodscum: Screencap of Geralt and Ciri hugging in s1e8 of The Witcher. (destiny hugging)

The Witcher, Geralt/Ciri

[personal profile] demigodscum 2022-01-18 07:00 am (UTC)(link)
Kaer Morhen is significantly quieter, emptier, and colder without Ciri in it.

For such a small human, when Ciri is here, she fills the keep with enough unrestrained, uncontrollable life to drive Geralt a little out of his mind at times.

But this winter, Ciri is elsewhere on the Continent, making her own choices and forging her own Destiny; this winter, Geralt sleeps with an extra skin that's really too small for him.
elementalraven: (Default)

Re: The Witcher, Geralt/Ciri

[personal profile] elementalraven 2022-01-18 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
this is lovely, Geralt&Ciri forever
paxilam: (Default)

Re: The Witcher, Geralt/Ciri

[personal profile] paxilam 2022-03-15 08:27 am (UTC)(link)
Beautiful snippet! Bittersweet

Re: The Witcher, Geralt/Ciri

[personal profile] demigodscum - 2022-03-24 22:53 (UTC) - Expand
edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)

Winternight (The Return of Fitzroy Angursell)

[personal profile] edenfalling 2022-01-25 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
The first Winternight after the Silver Forest, Jullanar was far too busy to think further than a week into the future. Scrimping her way through the bitter East Oriolan winter as an unaccompanied young woman, in a province made tight-fisted and suspicious of strangers by the protracted siege of Galderon and the slowly spiraling civil unrest that the siege had touched off, was difficult enough. Doing so as a wanted outlaw (though she managed to keep that secret mostly under her hat -- aside from one brief indulgence in the wild lay to help some local highwaymen fleece a truly asinine Voonran notable on a grand tour of the Empire, which had won her a newer, more interesting hat) was even more demanding.

By the second winter, however, she was beginning to feel the weight of expectations looming over her future like the shadow of some great carrion bird -- all the narrow straits she had sidestepped and outrun for years, now gathering pace and lapping at her heels. She was safe (and known, and respected) within Galderon's walls, but once she finished her exams... oh she didn't technically need to return home to Fiella-by-the-Sea, but what kind of daughter and sister would she be to not at least visit? And she knew herself well enough to see that once she visited, once she set so much as a finger back into the strictures of her former life, it would be next to impossible to leave again.

Not without a friend. With Ayasha or Damian, Pali or Sardeet, Masseo or Pharia, Gadarved or Faleron, to say nothing of Fitzroy, she knew how to be brave, how to turn a moment of outrage into a steady flame that could withstand an empire's scorn, but on her own she was gnawingly certain she would fold.

She lit a candle at sunset, a fat beeswax pillar (no smoky tallow, not for this), and murmured, "White Lady, you who guard us through the winter dark, help me stand strong. I was born Jullanar Thistlethwaite, but I chose -- I choose -- to be Jullanar of the Sea. Help me know myself. Help me remember."

For a breathless, scorching moment the wick flared like a falling star. Jullanar sprang back, patting her eyebrows with reflexes trained by years of Fitzroy's more experimental spells, which had a distressing tendency to explode. (Fire was always his truest element.)

"Thank you," she whispered, unsure whether she meant the words for the Lady or her absent friend.

Either way, she would keep faith.
severina: (twd: daryl)

The Walking Dead, Daryl/Beth

[personal profile] severina 2022-02-13 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
She promised. That's the one thing he remembers, as he curls up beneath the old horse blanket and watches his breath mist the air, and listens to the murmur of Glenn and Maggie's voices in the next room. She said they'd be together, take care of each other, and then they took her and he couldn't find her and he failed, and now he's all alone.