Hiding fandom in the underwear drawer since 1977

As predicted, I got really busy this month, so I'm glad I started it early. Next year, we'll move to our own DW community, if I can get organized.
Thank you all for participating. Remember, you can fill any prompt, any time, all year, any year.   I just ask that you not post new prompts.

The Wordcloud isn't as efficient as it used to be and doesn't capture nearly as many common words and participants. But here's a snapshot of Post 2. (and by the way, as of this post, there are over 3800 prompts and fills in Post 2, and 5871 comments in Post 1. WOW.)
Friends, you are terrific and lovely and thank you for another great fest!




Also, for those of you who noticed all the Narnia prompts and fills, that's where a lot of us met and hang out, so if you are interested in doing more, be sure to follow the Narnia Fic Exchange which typically runs from around June/July to September.

I had problem with wordcloud but no matter!  We're in the final stretch! As of this morning, post 2 had 2600 comments and post 1 had 5624 comments (curse you CAPTCHA) and the volume has, predictably, dropped way, way off. This means it's a great time to start at the last page and work your way back and fill something that catches your eye and fancy or leave a prompt that you would love to see filled.

If it picks up again, I'll open another post (YIKES). 

I've not participating as much this year, alas.  I've posted two stories and the Thing I was expecting dropped two days ago so work will now takeover my life.  But let me know if you've got any questions.

I will announce that ALL POSTS WILL BE CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS ON FEBRUARY 14.  (This is an extension of a day from the original Feb. 13). YOU CAN CONTINUE TO FILL PROMPTS AS LONG AS YOU LIKE!

We're at Day 5, give or take and almost 4100 comments.  I'll open up a new post at under 4500, which will likely be tomorrow.  For those of you thinking, oh my goddess, I'll never be able to read all that, yeah, me too.  This week has kicked me in the teeth so I'm looking forward to the slightly slower pace in the next week or two to get caught up.  Please join me! And no, I"m not going to read every prior prompt and you don't have to, either.  If you've had any problems, drop me a message, DM, email or otherwise.  There are lots of new people participating this year, and many familiar monikers, too, and the return of people who haven't been here in a while, so I'll start a friending meme post.

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.

<br /><a href="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/172142.html" _fcksavedurl="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/172142.html"><img src="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/file/71907.jpg" _fcksavedurl="https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/file/71907.jpg" alt="" title="3 Sentence Ficathon 2022 Banner" /></a>




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 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!



      

Tap tap. Friends, is it time to start your prompt-ing engines?
Once Yuletide is over, my thoughts turn to the 3SF which, historically, I've hosted in the month of February. However, I've been swamped all year with work and something that's sitting in a large, ugly office building near Pennsylvania Ave. NW in DC, will soon worsen things considerably and I'll really need to focus on that.

So, I'm thinking of starting 3SF a few weeks early, say next weekend 15 January 2022.
I thought about this weekend but heard complaints that this is too soon. People like to collect and think about prompts.
What do you think?

For a refresher, the rules, such as they are, from the 2021 3SF are here.  I want to emphasize again that I know that it can feel really overwhelming to walk away from 3SF for a couple of hours and see thousands of prompts when you return.  Really, truly, you do not need to read every prompt, you can fill a prompt that's already  been filled, you can repeat a prompt if you want, and you can start on the last page and work backward.  Also, usually, things slow down a lot about midway through and once we move to the second post at about 4,000 prompts and fills.  You can come in at any time, leave at any time, and start anywhere.

I was wondering what might be fun to prompt this year. Some new things, or old things new again:

• Fellowship of the Ring 20th Anniversary
• Harry Potter 20th Anniversary
• Wheel of Time, netflix
• Shadow and Bone, netflix
• BTS
• The Expanse
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
  
• The grounding of the Ever Given
  
• Dune
  
• Godzilla v. Kong
  
• Luca
  
• West Side Story
  
• Black Widow
  
• Venom
  
• The Eternals
  
• Dickinson
  
• Succession
  
• Wynonna Earp
  
• The Mighty Nein
• Capybaras trashing a posh neighborhood in Argentina
• Rampaging otters in Singapore
• Chonky squirrel caught in bird feeder
• Yule goat on fire
• Return of Queer Eye
• Boba Fett

These are just things to get you started. Start thinking of prompts, save them up, and we'll start next week. Drop me a line in comments below, on Twitter, tumblr, here or by gmail (I'm rthstewart everywhere) if you have any thoughts, suggestions, questions, or ideas. If you make any icons or banners, link me! As we know, I routinely fail at embeds but please spread the word!

Here's a word cloud from the second post of 3SF 2021. (and yes, I continued to get notices of new fills and comments all year long)