2026 Round of Crack the WIP - Rules and Sign-up!

[chacusha]

Hi everyone! I'm running a round of Crack the WIP during the first half of 2026. If you want to start the year by finishing off some old projects, and maybe need a deadline and some company or encouragement to push it across the finish line, come join us!

How it works:

Sign up below and tell us a little bit about what you're working on if you want! You can always change your mind later and drop or switch to a different project(s) as your plans change -- signing up isn't a commitment, just an idea of what you might make.

Then when it's finished, post your completed work to the AO3 collection. Note: Important change for this round is that the AO3 collection does NOT keep works hidden. So you can add your works to the collection as long as the work is complete. The collection is moderated and only complete works by people who have signed up will be accepted into it.

Throughout the creation period, we'll have regular (optional) check-ins (and round-ups/celebrations of any newly-finished works), and a final round-up of works at the end.

Sign-ups:

To sign up, copy the text below, paste it into your comment, and answer the questions. If you want to sign up to make more than one thing, just answer once for each thing. Anon comments are turned on, so you can sign up even if you don't have a DW account.

<strong>AO3 username</strong>: <strong>What medium is your project in (fic, fanart, vid, podfic, etc.)?</strong>: <strong>Tell us a little bit about it if you want! Fandom, ship, premise, etc. Be as vague or specific as you like:</strong>

Schedule:

The deadline for WIP-finishing is June 30 this year. Sign-ups are open until then. After that date, the collection will be closed!

Helpful links:
2026 AO3 collection

Rules/FAQ

1. What is Crack the WIP?
Crack the WIP is a multifandom community challenge to finish your WIPs, or Works in Progress, that have been sitting around on your hard drive gathering dust. It was started by snickfic, but chacusha is running the round this year!

2. How do I participate?
Sign up on this post with the WIPs you're planning on working on (you can change your plans later). Post a completed work to the AO3 collection before June 30th! Optionally, you can chat about your projects when we post check-in posts.

3. What works are eligible for this challenge?
Anything you've started that you'd like to complete! We're not enforcing any kind of word minimum.

4. Can I submit works besides fic?
You bet! All fanwork media including fanfic, fanart, fanvids, podfic, etc. are all welcome.

5. Can I submit more than one thing?
Sure! You are welcome to submit any number of works.

6. What if I sign up and then I drop out?
There's no penalty for dropping out. We know that's just how it goes sometimes. <3

7. If I've already posted part of a work, is it okay to finish it for Crack the WIP?
Yes! If part of the work is posted somewhere other than AO3, then you can finish it and post it like you would any other work, either all at once or in installments. If it's already partially posted to AO3, then you may complete it on your own schedule and then add it to the AO3 collection once done.

8. Do I HAVE to post my work to AO3 for it to count for this event?
Yes, for the purposes of this event, only works added to the AO3 collection will count for work round-ups and so on. If this event inspires you to finish something that you share somewhere else other than AO3 or don't share at all, we're glad for you, though!

9. Can I submit a work to both Crack the WIP and another collection (for a fannish bingo, for example)? What about if I want to gift my work to someone?
Both of those are fine! You are welcome to post your Crack the WIP work to another collection as well, and you are welcome to gift your work to someone.

10. What if I have a work that I haven't actually started yet? Can I write it and submit it to Crack the WIP?
That's fine with us! We will assume it's already a WIP in your heart. :D

11. What if I finish my fic late? Can I still post it to the collection after this year's posting deadline?
No, but we congratulate you on finishing!

12. Are all ships and kinks eligible for the challenge?
Almost all of them! We ship and let ship here. For example, RPF, incest, underage, and noncon works are all welcome. Original works are also welcome. The one exception is that explicit sexual content involving real people currently under the age of 18 is not allowed.

13. Do I have to sign up in order to participate?
Yes, please! That's so we know that you know what the collection is about when you submit a work to it.

14. Is there a deadline for signing up, then?
No, as long as you sign up before you submit the work to collection. :)

15. I'd like to promote this event in other spaces. Is that okay? Is there a banner I can use?
Sure! There's a banner over here.


If you have a question we didn't answer here, you can ask by replying to the questions thread on this post.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[chacusha]

Here's a questions thread if you have any questions so they don't get lost among sign-up comments.

Re: QUESTIONS

[kalloway]

Is using AO3 required to participate?

Re: QUESTIONS

[chacusha]

This is touched upon in point 8 above, but basically, yes, "officially" in order to participate in the event, posting to the AO3 collection is required. But you are welcome to use this event to finish your WIPs and post them anywhere else or not post them at all. It's just that on my side, in terms of modding and rounding up works and the event itself, the only works I'm concerned with are the ones in the AO3 collection. You're welcome to sign up if it helps you with accountability but you also don't have to if you're not planning on posting to the collection (if signing up, feel free to delete the "AO3 username" line or put that you're not planning on posting it to the AO3 collection). You can work on your WIPs, chat on check-in posts, etc. regardless of how you're planning on sharing your work. It's just that I won't be chasing down works posted elsewhere; only works that are in the Crack the WIP 2026 AO3 collection will be included in round-ups or considered officially part of the event. Hope that makes sense?

Re: QUESTIONS

[kalloway]

Thank you for the thorough response.

Re: QUESTIONS

[pebbleinalake]

I saw someone else already asked my question about AO3 participation being required lol. But just to make sure I understand your response, I wanted to clarify: So, it is okay for me to still sign up and participate, my work would just not be included in the round-up post? I would still love to participate, I just don't use AO3 anymore so want to make sure that's okay.

Re: QUESTIONS

[chacusha]

Yep, it is perfectly okay for you to sign up and participate and yeah, your work would just not be included in any work round-ups I do. But yeah, not using AO3 is otherwise not an issue at all for participating how you want to participate.

[smallhobbit]

AO3 username: Small_Hobbit
What medium is your project in (fic, fanart, vid, podfic, etc.)?: fic
Tell us a little bit about it if you want! Fandom, ship, premise, etc. Be as vague or specific as you like: There's a Spooks (MI5) fic with Lucas North which I'd like to get finished. The first two chapters are already on AO3 (as I thought it would encourage me...)
I'll also promote this on ushobwri especially as February is our 'Let's Get WiP-ed Into Shape' month.

[chacusha]

Ooh nice! It's always encouraging to have some parts already written and out in the world. Hope it motivates you to keep going!

And thanks for promoting -- hope it's helpful to that community!

[evandar]

AO3 username: evandar
What medium is your project in (fic, fanart, vid, podfic, etc.)?: Fic
Tell us a little bit about it if you want! Fandom, ship, premise, etc. Be as vague or specific as you like: I've got a WiP for IT (Muschietti movies) sitting on my hard drive that I'd like to get dusted off and finished.

[chacusha]

Ooh, nice to get old projects back in the light again. Good luck with it!

[flockofcrows]

AO3 username: flockofcrows
What medium is your project in (fic, fanart, vid, podfic, etc.)?: fic!
Tell us a little bit about it if you want! Fandom, ship, premise, etc. Be as vague or specific as you like: I have a Bruce Wayne/Hal Jordan fic that's almost done but I need to edit and post the last two chapters. I have the first draft version of each chapter written so it should be doable.

[chacusha]

Sounds very doable! Good luck with your edits and getting the last two chapters out the door. :)

[samuraiter]

AO3 username: Samuraitet
What medium is your project in (fic, fanart, vid, podfic, etc.)?: Fic
Tell us a little bit about it if you want! Fandom, ship, premise, etc. Be as vague or specific as you like: A long time ago, I had the idea to take a the first chapter of my longest story and rewrite it from the ground up as a one-shot with different focus characters and pairings. Since I can't write the way I used to, I figured, why not take the same idea and see how the modern version of me does it? Fandom is Fire Emblem.

[chacusha]

Ooh, I love rewrites/remixes of older ideas. Sounds like a very fun writing experiment -- good luck on finishing it!

[seraphikiss]

AO3 username: seraphikiss
What medium is your project in (fic, fanart, vid, podfic, etc.)?: fanfiction
Tell us a little bit about it if you want! Fandom, ship, premise, etc. Be as vague or specific as you like:: i currently have multiple goals, but the first one is to finish my winter themed identity v joker/mike fic which only has two more chapters. my next goal is to finish my joseph/frederick soulmate au.

[chacusha]

Ooh, never heard of this game before. Looks fascinating! Good luck with your projects!

[ryulynn]

AO3 username: ryulynn
What medium is your project in (fic, fanart, vid, podfic, etc.)?: fanfic
Tell us a little bit about it if you want! Fandom, ship, premise, etc. Be as vague or specific as you like: I think for this round I'm going to try to finish the Konoe/Rai (Lamento) 5+1 fic that I started sometime in the midle of last year. I have a bunch of other WIPs that I would like to finish as well but this one I think is a priority.

[skysedge]

AO3 username: skysedge
What medium is your project in (fic, fanart, vid, podfic, etc.)?: fic
Tell us a little bit about it if you want! Fandom, ship, premise, etc. Be as vague or specific as you like: Fandom is Touken Ranbu, I have a long AU series which I've been working on for years but have been stuck on getting the latest installment done. It's multi-part, multi-story series so this WIP will stand along it's just part of the bigger universe!

TLDR: left my readers a note that a character was in jail then never updated to explain why. Need to write the next part.

[tarlanx]

AO3 username: Tarlan
What medium is your project in?: FIC
Tell us a little bit about it if you want! Fandom, ship, premise, etc. Be as vague or specific as you like: It is a crossover story for The Old Guard and Stargate Franchise. I have around 2600 words written but haven't touched the story for many months. It would be great to get it finished.

[dantesgig]

AO3 username: annadante
What medium is your project in (fic, fanart, vid, podfic, etc.)?: fic
Tell us a little bit about it if you want! Fandom, ship, premise, etc. Be as vague or specific as you like: It's a reincarnation and fantasy AU for satosugu ship in jujutsu kaisen fandom. I have the three remaining chapters planned in my mind but I truly don't have the energy to do it. The title of the fic is "howl" and it was meant to be a one shot but you know it grew and now I just wanna finish it!