rthstewart: (Default)
rthstewart ([personal profile] rthstewart) wrote2022-01-20 09:54 pm

Three Sentence Ficathon 2022 Part 2

UPDATE 14 FEBRUARY 2022 -- 3SF 2022 IS NOW CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS!  Do continue to fill prompts already posted but the 3SF 2022 is now closed.  We'll be back next year in a new comm (If I can get my act together).  Thank you again!

THIS IS THE NEW POST FOR PART 2 OF THE 3 SENTENCE FICATHON -- ALL NEW PROMPTS SHOULD BE POSTED HERE
You may continue to fill prompts (but not leave new ones) at the original Post 1 here but please post new prompts here, not there.  And if you're asking, hey is just me, or did this get enormous really fast? Why yes, yes it did.  Last year, it took us ten days before I opened a new post.  This year, it took us about 5.5 days to get there.  So, by all means, go back and fill in Post 1 and post new prompts here!

Also woops, in an indication of how busy I've been with other things, I neglected to post that for a third year in a row the awesome [personal profile] conuly  started a master list of unclaimed prompts and has been updating it as time permits.  Obviously a huge task! Thank you!







 
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!























betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:18 pm (UTC)(link)
That "No" is so perfect for Antigone--steely, uncompromising, unapologetic. I do love her so.
betony: (Default)

Re: I’ve Missed You All This Time (Greek Mythology, Andromache/Hektor)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
I love your young! Hektor and Andromache SO MUCH -- and respected for it even by she, who respects so few. Ha!
betony: (Default)

Re: Though I Can’t Recall Your Face (Greek Mythology, Penelope/Odysseus)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:21 pm (UTC)(link)
This is such a gorgeous depiction of Penelope, and that last sentence has just amazing imagery (especially the last parenthetical! so beautiful!)
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
She hears him.

No longer does his voice make sinister proclamations, impatient insults; but instead, when the wind rushes through the branches above, she hears You look as lovely as ever; and when a bird caws when she scolds an errant child, she hears, As sharp-witted as you are sharp-tongued; and when the sun sets, she hears, In you I have my home, Alina.

And she is free too, at last, free to believe him; she is free to press her fingers to her lips in a silent kiss and whisper back, "I know."
Edited (html fail!) 2022-02-05 21:22 (UTC)
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's more difficult than you think, boy," grunts his father, "loving a madwoman. The gods-touched are not so very different from the gods themselves, and who better than I to know?"

And Aeneas knows, knows, knows all this, and yet he cannot help but imagine: her fingers carding through his hair; her lips warm against his skin; her voice whispering of bones and blood and death and yet he wouldn't care so long as she did--not--stop--

"It's more difficult than you think, Father," he replies, voice rough and raw, "being a little mad yourself."
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:25 pm (UTC)(link)
*giggles* Guaranteed to kill romance dead! XD
betony: (Default)

Re: Narnia, Aravis/Cor

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:27 pm (UTC)(link)
This is such a perfect look at what a first Cor/Aravis kiss would be (they are very, "Peace! I will stop your mouth")
ernest: (Default)

[personal profile] ernest 2022-02-05 09:32 pm (UTC)(link)
thank you so much! a lot of the characterization here is based on the andrew scott production, which makes excellent use of screens -- the guards see the ghost on the security cameras, and only hamlet actually gets to see him in the flesh, and several scenes have a video camera selectively choosing which parts of the family get projected up onto the screen above the stage -- and andrew scott has talked in several interviews about how the experience of being watched all the time must affect all of them. also claudius and gertrude are Big In Love in this production <3

(unfortunately it does not get any less murderous, but as soon as gertrude starts convulsing, hamlet puts his hand in front of the camera and the screen goes staticky and all the courtiers scatter, it's very good)
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
She hopes, sometimes, to wake in her bed in the Little Palace and to discover it was all a dreadful dream; to pad to the General's study, to listen to him laugh as she confessed all; to watch, wary at first but then bone-deep relieved, as he proved his loyalties to be for the good of Ravka and his intentions to be honorable, and then the General turns to her and--

"And what does it say, Alina," comes the Darkling's taunting whisper from the depths of her mind, "if your desires are an echo of mine?"

She bites her lip so hard it bleeds.
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:34 pm (UTC)(link)
"A sin," Alina says stiffly, "always a sin;" and the Darkling cannot help but laugh.

"Consider, then," he retorts, "the creation of a child--life where there was none, destiny created out of nothing. If any otkazat'sya might dabble in such a thing, then why not we, who are made for greatness?"

"That's love," Alina corrects, raising her chin in challenge, "and I think love must be a thousand times more powerful and frightening than merzost"--and Aleksander pauses, falters, stumbles, and cannot quite tell her that he thinks she might be right.
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:36 pm (UTC)(link)
He hardly recognizes Alina even as she darts through the crowd towards him, and it's not the Grisha splendor she wears, or the new softness of her cheeks, the heightened color of her complexion--instead it's the happiness that shines from her, the sparkle of her eyes, the mouth no longer held in a frightened scowl.

This, Mal thinks dazedly, is what a Sun Summoner ought to be.

And he finds he cannot hate the General for that--can hate the fellow for a dozen other things, but not Alina's joy--and even as Alina returns to the pavilion, come to bless the troops in a transparent excuse to visit her old friends, Mal ducks his head in silent thanks.
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:36 pm (UTC)(link)
She shouts and scowls and shudders at him, but in truth, was it not she who violated the sanctity of his dreams first? Alina, limned in light; Alina, unkempt and laughing; Alina Alina Alina--

He tells her as much once, and is almost certain he does not mistake the catch of her breath, the widening of her eyes, before her face goes battle-hard once more.
peaked: KAZZA. (pic#15387217)

Re: Give Me the Burden (SoC, Inej/Kaz)

[personal profile] peaked 2022-02-05 09:36 pm (UTC)(link)
This is so good! I particularly like particle by particle—such a great reference to Kaz's "brick by brick" and it refers to people more than empires. It really hammers home the monstrous theme.
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
This actually intersects with a broader AU I've been tossing around, where Helen dies of illness alongside her brothers, forcing the gods to...improvise.

In that first hazy instant after waking, the king of Eddis imagined Death herself to be waiting at the end of his bed, so icily beautiful was the woman shrouded in gray who sat there; and in response he only smiled, crooked and content. He said, "You've come rather late, if you meant to collect me with the rest of my cousins. You might have spared me the coronation, at least; the crown made my head ache terribly."

"You're a fool," said Irene shortly, years of hard work as the first Thief of Attolia having eroded what was left of the Shadow Princess' patience, "and not a very good one, either. Now get up and get dressed; I've come to steal you."
Edited 2022-02-05 21:39 (UTC)
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:42 pm (UTC)(link)
A drab little thing, to have caused so much trouble--even now, Attolia could not be sure if she spoke of Hamiathes' Gift or of the ragamuffin who had hidden it away so well , only to be betrayed by his own gods.

It would be something, to never have to fear poison again; it would be something to need no heir, for the Queen of Attolia would sit on her throne, alone and eternal--and without meaning to, her fingers tightened about the Gift until her knuckles shone white.

Far away, thunder rumbled high in the mountains.

(For those unfamiliar with canon: Hamiathes' Gift confers immortality and legitimacy over ruling Eddis when given freely; but according to tradition, those who took it by force were doomed to death soon afterwards.)
ernest: (Default)

[personal profile] ernest 2022-02-05 09:42 pm (UTC)(link)
i LOVE making things tragic by finding the love that was always there but wasn't allowed to survive because of circumstances. i'm so delighted you like it, clytemnestra is one of my favorite ladies of myth.
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
She dreams about it still.

Oh, Irene would be a fool not to; not to dream of her grip made iron instead of frail silk, not to envision the Peninsula, the Mede, the world itself under her feet where nothing might unseat or unsettle her. Even now, the question echoes in her mind, touched with the shade of Nahuseresh's oil: How else, my dear, will you ever be safe?

A glorious image, an alluring future, if not for a single flaw: there is nowhere she feels safer but pinned down in her bed, the twins sprawled about her to either side, Gen snoring softly beside them all.
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Any, Any background character, Baby, I have no story to be told/But I've heard one on you/And I'm gonna make your head burn
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Fullmetal Alchemist, Riza/Roy, This ain't easy, it's not meant to be/Every story has its scars
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Greek Mythology, Any, We're in love with the world, but the world just wants to bring us down
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Collegia Magica, Anne/Dante, I know there is hope in these water/But I can't bring myself to swim/When I am drowning in this silence
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Greek Mythology, Ariadne/Dionysus, You're my light you're my darkness/You're the right kind of madness
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Greek Mythology, Hektor/Andromache, I remember all of the things that I thought I wanted to be/So desperate to find a way out of my world and finally breathe/Right before my eyes I saw, my heart it came to life
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Greek Mythology, Psyche(/Eros), But they don't recognize me now/ In the light of day
betony: (Default)

[personal profile] betony 2022-02-05 09:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Greek Mythology, Odysseus/Penelope, Walking with each other, think we'd never match at all, but we do