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!























little_lady_d: (Default)

[personal profile] little_lady_d 2022-02-04 08:33 pm (UTC)(link)
any, any, 'i'm pretty sure i'm worthless / if i can't be of service'
ernest: (What disadvantage?)

til our bodies break down every door (RWBY, Ozma/Salem)

[personal profile] ernest 2022-02-05 11:39 am (UTC)(link)
ozma: a hero who knows nothing but the next obstacle to be aimed at for the sake of the rest of the world wants nothing more than a cause worth giving up his life. he rescues a girl whose father thinks he owns her, not for the glory and not for the sacrifice, but because it’s the right thing to do, and looking in her eyes he feels for the first time that he need not prove himself to be valued. it is a fever that takes him down in the end, and he doesn’t know for the longest time the lengths to which his love would go to undo his end.

oz: a soul pulled from the ether is handed a divine mandate to unite humanity into something deserving of continued existence, and he continually refuses this horrible burden until he learns that the woman he loves is alive, and then he jumps at the chance to find her. uneasy with the happiness they find together, he finally talks around the conviction that he hasn’t been doing enough and never will do enough to save those he serves from their own flaws. really, he is begging for permission to lay down his load, but she wants to make him happy so she says they can make that better world together and he can’t stand to disappoint her.

ozpin: an infinite man has spent several lives trying to forget, many lives hoping to die as quickly as possible, and the rest struggling against the odds to do as he has been told, until he has dragged himself into the present. he trusts as few people as possible and lets the cultural memory celebrate the ideal of the solitary warrior. whatever else happens, it has to be him because if he tells the wrong people the truth they will betray him, or he will turn out to have failed in his task and it will all be for naught.
Edited 2022-02-05 17:48 (UTC)

Obsidian & Blood, Teomitl

[personal profile] notapaladin 2022-04-11 01:04 am (UTC)(link)

“I’m fine,” she says. “I don’t need your help,” she says. And Teomitl remembers how they’d tied his cloak to her blouse (his heart to her heart), remembers the flare of magic that meant danger, and bites his lip, saying nothing. Was I not supposed to protect you, Mihmatini?

“You need to be patient,” he says. “We can weather this,” he says. And Teomitl remembers a knife at his throat (a garrote at his throat), remembers the poisonous hatred in his brother’s eyes, and bites his lip, saying nothing. You guard the whole of the Fifth World, but who guards you, Acatl-tzin?

There’s nothing he can do. He’s useless. The only thing he can do is sit and watch and wait as his brother spreads calamity throughout his Empire, threatening the people he loves. The people he gave his heart to, who don’t even seem to know that he’d do anything for them.

“You can save them,” she says. “You can save the Fifth World,” she says. And Teomitl remembers a frantically beating heart (a slow and faltering heart), remembers his soldiers dying in the mud because his brother is too unfit to rule, and he looks down at his sister.

And he says, “I will.”