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!



      


















mad_madam_m: Mad Madam Mim as a dragon (Default)

[personal profile] mad_madam_m 2022-01-15 07:20 pm (UTC)(link)
any, any, holidays
presumenothing: (Default)

Guardian; Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan

[personal profile] presumenothing 2022-01-16 05:02 pm (UTC)(link)

"Dixing doesn't have holidays?!" Zhao Yunlan exclaims, words slipping out aghast before his brain catches up with the (unhelpfully late) reminder that up until relatively recent history Dixing hadn't even had an agreed-upon calendar.

Shen Wei doesn't point out the obvious, only says, "There isn't much to celebrate, as a rule," – but he's wrong in that, at least.

Zhao Yunlan would know; he's looking right at the proof of it.

theseatheseatheopensea: Lyrics from the song Stolen property, by The Triffids, handwritten by David McComb. (Default)

Re: Guardian; Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan

[personal profile] theseatheseatheopensea 2022-01-16 05:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Aww! <3 Lovely!
ilthit: (Default)

Re: Guardian; Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan

[personal profile] ilthit 2022-01-17 11:05 am (UTC)(link)
<3 <3
scytale: (Default)

Re: Guardian; Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan

[personal profile] scytale 2022-01-17 05:53 pm (UTC)(link)
omg omg omg I love this -- the variation in the sentence lengths, the way you pull out the different reasons there are no holidays, Shen Wei's resignation, the sweetness at the end.
presumenothing: (Default)

Re: Guardian; Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan

[personal profile] presumenothing 2022-01-18 02:46 am (UTC)(link)

………………and now all I can think of is chaos gremlin Zhao Yunlan putting Shen Wei through a game show entitled "Spot the Fake Haixing Holiday!!" Though I'm sure he already does know the correct ones at this point, but obscure holidays can always be found……

wearing_tearing: green background with stiles staring sideways at derek. ([t wolf] sterek)

Teen Wolf: Derek/Stiles

[personal profile] wearing_tearing 2022-01-16 05:03 pm (UTC)(link)
"If you don't get in the car in the next 30 seconds, I'm going back to my house," Derek threatens and silently wonders what he did to ever get a boyfriend this disorganized.

"You're not ruining our holiday just because you're impatient!" Stiles yells back at him and, two seconds later, comes rushing down the stairs with his bag.

Derek rolls his eyes, but doesn't pull back when Stiles leans in and smacks a kiss against his lips--a silent apology and a promise that the next few days at the beach are going to be amazing.
mad_madam_m: Mad Madam Mim as a dragon (Default)

Re: Teen Wolf: Derek/Stiles

[personal profile] mad_madam_m 2022-01-25 02:20 am (UTC)(link)
Ahahahaha yes, that is very them. XD Perfect.
wearing_tearing: black and white icon of a person holding a wolf mask to their face. (Default)

Re: Teen Wolf: Derek/Stiles

[personal profile] wearing_tearing 2022-01-25 01:30 pm (UTC)(link)
thank you! <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)

Dress Up Your Pet Day (Inception; Arthur/Eames)

[personal profile] kalira 2022-01-16 10:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"But darling! It's Dress Up Your Pet Day! I thought you'd like that!"

". . .you know what, fine. Have fun." Arthur said, eyeing the suit jacket in Eames' hands, and then their cat, clearly fuming, his tail lashing. "Your funeral."

Okay actually that holiday was January 13th, but the thought made me giggle.
mad_madam_m: Mad Madam Mim as a dragon (Default)

Re: Dress Up Your Pet Day (Inception; Arthur/Eames)

[personal profile] mad_madam_m 2022-01-18 05:00 pm (UTC)(link)
I am cackling XD
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: Dress Up Your Pet Day (Inception; Arthur/Eames)

[personal profile] kalira 2022-01-18 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
^.^ I'm sure this can only end well. *coughs*
ruanchunxian: (Default)

Shang Chi (Katy drags Shaun home for the holidays because someone's got to help eat all the food.)

[personal profile] ruanchunxian 2022-01-17 02:12 am (UTC)(link)

Dongzhi/Winter Solstice  

Two weeks after her excellent rendition of Hotel California saved him from that bully at school, Katy announced to Shaun, rather than asked, that he would be spending Saturday at her house, because “my mother’s making tangyuan and both my brother and me could use some one to help roll what will seem like ten thousand of those things, and then if you’re going to help us eat it all after so we don’t end up puking on glutinous rice, that’d be great.”

He hadn’t had tangyuan, or really anything that wasn’t mere sustenance, for a long time, not ever since…

The next day, as he sat at a small round table watching Katy and her brother bicker with trays of white and pastel tangyuan between them, he found himself thinking of Lingling, and suddenly wondered how cold it was now, up there in that mountain… 


Chunjie/Spring Festival

If at first Katy’s parents had questions about their daughter’s relationship to this boy she randomly started to drag home for the holidays, both Mr and Mrs Chen thankfully never let it show, even if for a while they were obviously a little unsure of how to treat the brooding boy who on the surface seemed to be the opposite of their abrasive, prone-to-exuberance daughter.

However, his presence chez Chen became assuredly permanent that Spring Festival, when Mrs Chen observed, “Your jiaozi are folded so beautifully, Shaun, unlike Katy here; she’s all thumbs about it.”

Shangqi looked down at the jiaozi in his hand – and right now, he felt more like Shangqi than Shaun, still – before looking up at Mrs Chen and smiled, saying, “My mother started teaching me when I was very young…it’s been a long time, but I guess some things you never forget.”

 

 

(PS: I guess I should explain why he's Shangqi and not Shang Chi in case you're confused. Shangqi or Shang Qi is the proper romanization of the character's name based on the pinyin romanization system that is used in mainland China and also now more widespread elsewhere. Under the pinyin system, "chi" is a completely different character/sound. "Shang Chi" is based on an older romanization system (Wade-Giles) that can still be seen in some place names etc in Taiwan. The q in pinyin is pronounced very close to a ch sound which is probably why they kept the Shang Chi romanization in the movie title, to prevent people calling him Shang Ki or something. But since his sister's name is romanized using pinyin, it would make more sense for him to be Shangqi/Shang Qi (pinyin) rather than Shangchi/Shang Chi (Wade-Giles). Of course, they could have avoided this confusion by choosing a character for his name that actually does romanize into "chi" in pinyin, but I can also understand why they didn't, as "chi" sounds like the word to eat and the name sounds a bit silly once you get into those homophones... language ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

Edited 2022-01-17 02:39 (UTC)
elementalraven: (Default)

Re: Shang Chi (Katy drags Shaun home for the holidays because someone's got to help eat all the food

[personal profile] elementalraven 2022-01-17 02:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Aarghh there is more!! I love this as well, all the insight into the Chinese holidays and food, and of course the names. I also love how you offer such clear explanations in addition to writing such amazing fics. I used Duolingo to learn Chinese for like a year, and I'm definitely not any good at it beyond like a very basic understanding (most of which I forgot again) but I do recognize some things, and it makes this even more amazing to read! I think it really adds a lot of depth and I am living for it
severina: (die hard: heart)

Live Free or Die Hard, John/Matt

[personal profile] severina 2022-02-13 10:06 pm (UTC)(link)
The McClane Curse might encompass Christmas, Labor Day, and the 4th of July, but John assured Matt that he had nothing to worry about at the parade on Read Across America Day. That was, of course, before the giant Tribute to Lord of the Rings float exploded, sending bookmark-shaped projectiles and not a few elves and dwarves catapulting into the crowd of book-loving onlookers.

Matt hates holidays.
sincereously: kitten on a yellow background (kitten on yellow)

Re: Live Free or Die Hard, John/Matt

[personal profile] sincereously 2022-02-15 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
So perfectly funny!
severina: (die hard: heart)

Re: Live Free or Die Hard, John/Matt

[personal profile] severina 2022-02-16 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks so much! Glad you liked it. :)
nea: (sga: ronon shiny)

Stargate Atlantis, Christmas Traditions

[personal profile] nea 2022-06-07 12:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Sorry, not betaed and English isn't my first language!

Elizabeth brings them cups of egg nogg, asking them, how they like the improvised christmas party so far.

"The mead could be stronger and less creamy" is what Ronon wants to say after taking a gulp, but doesn‘t, because Teyla wants to know more about the greenish twigs that are hanging mostly in doorways or on ceilings and people seem to be excited about; Ronon furrows his brows about Elisabeth's explanation: she pulls him then under one of the twigs and kisses him on the corner of his mouth – it doesn‘t have to be a romantic kiss, she says amused, at his confusion.

Teyla also hides her smirk behind her hand, musing if Kanaan knows about this interesting tradition – she hopes nobody showed it to him yet; Ronon leaves both women to laugh at him and decides to and check if there’s one of the twigs hanging somewhere in the sick bay.
__

Thanks, btw, I'm going to turn this fill into a proper fic, to get my writing mojo back!