What's this community about? How do I participate?
Each week, a new word will be posted to this community by a mod. To join in, get out your writing tools of choice and a timer, and once you reveal the word, write for 15 minutes on whatever the word inspires you to.
When your 15 minutes are up, you’re invited to reblog your writing to the community using the tags “15MinuteFics” and “Word #117” (substituting the correct number for the word used — 117 used above is a placeholder; do not use quotation marks in your tags), along with any other relevant tags. Please place your writing behind a Readmore.
(A note: although the community is named “fics,” other kinds of writing are also welcome, as is visual art! This can be used for 15 minutes of creative inspiration in the art form of your choice.)
Remember: don't look at the prompt word until you are ready to write!
Can I edit my story?
You can do minimal editing after your 15 minutes are up, but this should mostly be limited to correcting typos and punctuation.
When will each new word be posted?
Words will be queued to appear on PorkWithBones’ fort each Tuesday morning at 10am Central time. They’ll then be reblogged to the community, normally by one of your mods, but if any member sees a live word that hasn’t yet been reblogged to the community, you’re welcome to do it yourself!
What am I allowed to write?
Absolutely anything! Fanfic, original fic, poetry, reminisces, anecdotes, or whatever else you can come up with. The point is to write on the go and (hopefully) surprise yourself with the results.
Can I write a ficlet for an older word?
Yes, of course! Sometimes, one word a week just isn't enough, so feel free to browse through the archives and write a ficlet inspired by any of the words from previous weeks.
Is there a limit to how explicit a story can be?
We accept works of any ratings, provided the rating and any warnings are clearly stated in the summary. NSFW works should be placed behind a Readmore. (Preferably all works should be, but if it’s NSFW, it will be deleted if it’s not behind a cut.)
If the prompt should inspire more than one ficlet, can I post all of them?
It's fine to post more than one ficlet if the word inspires them both. The more stories, the better! (In the case of multiple pieces inspired by the same word, it’s fine to give each piece its own 15 minutes of writing.)
How does the prompt word get picked?
The words are chosen at random from a long list of words selected because they belong to multiple parts of speech or have multiple meanings (allowing for a broader range of interpretations as you write — so if a word doesn’t speak to you at first glance, give it a moment and think what else that word can mean and in what ways it might be used other than the first one you think of when you first see the word). We try to stick with words common enough native English speakers (and most who speak English well as a second language) will immediately recognize the word; the point of this is to get your words flowing, not make you break our your dictionary.
Do I have to use the prompt word in my fic?
Not at all! The point is to be inspired by the word and use whatever ideas it brings to mind. If the word itself never appears in your 15 minutes of writing, that’s not a problem!
Is there anything I can’t do?
Please don’t
*Post your own prompts - there are other communities that welcome that; this one has a specific format
*Post a work here that wasn’t inspired by one of the prompts - there are plenty of communities on PF that welcome your posts of original fic or fanfic on any topic; this isn’t one of them
*Post a polished, completed work; this is for what you can get out in 15 minutes. It produces incomplete, rather messy works. The one exception is, if you take a piece you started from a prompt here, and extend it into a full story, you’re welcome to reblog it here if and only if you include a link to your original 15-minute version.
Credits and history:
This community was inspired by the original Livejournal 15minuteficlets community, which closed in May 2007. We didn't want the concept to fade away, so we started this community up in order to carry on the tradition. The mechanics of how it works are a little different here on Pillowfort due to differences between the two platforms (we have reblogs here!), but it remains the same in spirit.
It opened here on Pillowfort in September 2018 and ran for over two years before we stopped putting out new words due to low participation and no queue function. It never fully closed, though, and to our delight people have continued posting their writing for previously posted words in the years since!
We’re putting out new words beginning Tuesday 1 October 2024.
The moderators for this community are: