Finish What You Started - a multi-fandom event

Creation event focused on finishing existing projects. Following mod. Some participant works are 18+. Content warning tags enforced. No AI submissions allowed. Current event: March-April 2026

[finishwhatyoustarted-event]

Finish What You Started Event Information

Premise: The Finish What You Started event is a multi-fandom, multimedia event focused on finishing existing works in progress. While primarily aimed at writers, this event is open to any kind of creative fanwork. Fics, translations, podfics, fanart, animations, cosplay, sculpture - if you started it and never got it done, it qualifies. There are no prompts or sign-ups, and few limitation. Participation is mainly done by tagging any wip progress you post with #FinishWhatYouStarted2026 and making a promo post for your completed work so it can be shared and celebrated, with the tag #IFinishedWhatIStarted2026

Dates: March 1st through April 30th, with a check-in on April 1st.

Additional sites: finishwhatyoustart.bsky.social, twitter.com/finishwatustart, Discord server, AO3 collection

Rules can be found as a post on here, the Bsky, and the Discord.

[radioactive-earthshine]

20 Low effort meaningful comments to leave on fics when you can’t think of anything to say that most authors love and appreciate (and you will too).

1.) Thank you for writing this!

2.) This really helped distract me from the horrors of reality, thank you for writing it!

3.) I really really really loved this.

4.) <3

5.) Literal keyboard mash q3kjt2uh0erjiurjfnejkrgnkejoiiueirnf!!!!

6.) My favorite part was when they ____.

7.) I laughed at ____.

8.) How dare you! /affectionate.

9.) I am very excited to read this story in its entirety!

10.) I really enjoyed the first __ chapters, I cannot wait for more!

11.) This gave me everything I was hoping for!

12.) 10/10 fic, thanks for writing!

13.) I am going to be thinking about this fic for a long time, thank you for writing!

14.) This made me feel a lot of emotions and I cannot describe them, so thank you for that. I really enjoyed this.

15.) This was the best ride I haven taken in a long time, wow! Thank you for writing this.

16.) If I had the ability to bind this as a real book I would, I loved it so much.

17.) I'm not good with words but I just loved this so much.

18.) This is complete perfection.

19.) I am in awe of how you described ____.

20.) This means so much to me that you wrote this. Thank you.

The more you comment, the better you will get at it and the more enjoyment and fulfillment you will received out of saying thank you.

[thesylverlining]

Just saying, these wonderful things work for books too. If you don't know what to say for a review (which are SO SO SO IMPORTANT in this hellscape especially for indies!!!) any of these are great! including the "can't wait for more" if it's a series or the author is just. Writing more lol. Which your reviews help so much with!

[artisimpossible]

#Writing#PLEASE leave review on books the way you would on fics!#I'm begging lol it's so important I can't even say

Adding--every algorithm runs on comments. Amazon, WebToons, literally Instagram & TikTok, etc. This means stories that get comments get recommended to more people and stories that don't fade into oblivion. If you're reading something, please comment. Even on sites without algorithms (or with custom algorithms), comments are often the only thing that keeps writers going, especially when authors can't meet readers irl. I've been able to do a lot of in-person events since 2022, but prior to that, I almost gave up writing many times because I didn't think anyone cared. Over *10,000* people have read my books according to Goodreads, and I thought no one cared because I heard from people so infrequently. PLEASE TELL PEOPLE YOU LOVE THEIR WORK.

[whump-it-like-its-hot]

So earlier in art class today, someone drew a characters hands in their pockets and mentioned that hands are really like the ultimate end boss of art, and most of us wholeheartedly agreed. So then, our teacher went ahead and free handed like a handful of hands on the board, earning a woah from a couple of students. So the one from earlier mentioned how it barely took the teacher ten seconds to do what I can’t do in three hours. And you know what he responded?

“It didn’t take me ten seconds, it took me forty years.”

And you know, that stuck with me somehow. Because yeah. Drawing a hand didn’t take him fourth years. But learning and practicing to draw a hand in ten seconds did. And I think there’s something to learn there but it’s so warm and my brain is fried so I can’t formulate the actual morale of the lesson.

[kazoosandfannypacks]

Saying "I'm not going to draw this thing because I don't know how to draw this thing" is really shooting yourself in the foot, because you've now cut yourself off from an opportunity to grow.

I had a friend in college who was an absolutely amazing artist. I loved seeing his work! One time I said something to the effect of "I could never do that."

He told me something that, as an artist, I resonate with. He said art isn't about natural talent; it's a learned skill. When you tell an artist their level of skill is impossible for you to reach, you're assuming their level of skill is a natural gifting they have, and it discredits the hundreds to thousands of hours of hard work they've put into getting where they are today, and you're cutting yourself off from trying to reach that point yourself.

[what-hos-there]

I don't remember where I heard this but I wish I could, because it stuck with me:

Talent is THE RATE at which you learn things, not whether or not you can learn certain skills at all.

And that suddenly clicked for me. I have been very talented with a lot of things in my life and once I realized that I had basically been getting XP multipliers on my normal life experiences, it suddenly felt so much less awful to realize that I did not have the same advantage with other skills I struggle with, and that's okay. I might even have some debuffs on those, and that's okay. It's still all gaining as long as I keep working on it!!

[rsingwriting]

I saw a post talking about how Terry Pratchett only wrote 400 words a day, how that goal helped him write literally dozens of books before he died. So I reduced my own daily word goal. I went down from 1,000 to 200. With that 800-word wall taken down, I’ve been writing more. “I won’t get on tumblr/watch TV/draw/read until I hit my word goal” used to be something I said as self-restraint. And when I inevitably couldn’t cough up four pages in one sitting, I felt like garbage, and the pleasurable hobbies I had planned on felt like I was cheating myself when I just gave up. Now it’s something I say because I just have to finish this scene, just have to round out this conversation, can’t stop now, because I’m enjoying myself, I’m having an amazing time writing. Something that hasn’t been true of my original works since middle school. 

And sometimes I think, “Well, two hundred is technically less than four hundred.” And I have to stop myself, because - I am writing half as much as Terry Pratchett. Terry fucking Pratchett, who not only published regularly up until his death, but published books that were consistently good. 

And this has also been an immense help as a writer with ADHD, because I don’t feel bad when I take a break from writing - two hundred words works up quick, after all. If I take a break at 150, I have a whole day to write 50 more words, and I’ve rarely written less than 200 words and not felt the need to keep writing because I need to tie up a loose end anyways. 

Yes, sometimes, I do not produce a single thing worth keeping in those two hundred words. But it’s much easier to edit two hundred words of bad writing than it is to edit no writing at all.

[theamyrlinsofa]

This is the second time this post passes on my dash and it’s the best advice I ever got. I can’t write consistently in one go, it’s always about 50 words and then I get distracted and just have to do something else for a while. Do the math quickly: trying to write 2000 words a day takes a looooong time that way. So there were many days where I just didn’t even start writing, cause I wouldn’t reach my goal anyways and feel like a failure. Then I stumbled upon this post and I thought: hey, let’s give this a try. And it works! I set my goal between 200-400 words a day and that’s perfectly doable. Some days I get into the flow and I write a whole lot more. On other days, I struggle to get those 200 out but hey, at least I wrote 200 words and reached my goal. Whatever the outcome, t makes me feel good and accomplished. 

Writing takes practice, so even if it’s only 100 words a day, it’s better than nothing. If it worked for Terry Pratchett and me, than it can work for you too!

[muffinlance]

My own tags because I am particularly proud of them:

#l also endorse this method #The important thing is to get your butt in the chair and make a habit of that #The writing follows like a stray cat: you need to sit long enough to lure it into your lap #At which point you’re stuck there until the writing leaves (you finish) or you need to go to the bathroom badly enough to disturb it

[fairykukla]

This is about achievable goals, too. Maybe if writing is the only thing you’re responsible for doing, a higher number like 2,000 words is a more achievable goal.

But most of us also have to work, manage child care, go to school, manage a disability, do household chores, provide care for a loved one, manage a social calendar, prepare meals, etc. (most of us have several things on the list to deal with, and if your responsibilities aren’t on this list they’re still valid.)

Tolkien had meals prepared for him at home and at work. He only “worked” at the bare minimum as a tenured professor, and actively tried to get his students to drop his classes so that he could spend more time writing. His wife managed all of the child care on her own. Their household staff managed the chores.

None of us have the luxury of fucking off at work to get in another 500 words or so. (I mean, if you do, go for it! Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime etc.) We have laundry and dishes and commuting, after a stressful day of work.

So go for 100 words. Go for 50. If you find yourself consistently writing more than that, gently “up” the number. Maybe it’s not a number goal to reach at all; maybe it’s “one conversation” or “start a chapter.”

Or maybe you do it the other way around! Just write. When you feel like you’ve reached a satisfying quantity, look at how many words you wrote and track that number. This method will help you find that sweet sweet “average number of words”, which might actually be the way other authors track their work, too. Maybe when someone says, “I write 1,000 words a day” they mean it averages out to a thousand.

if you’re clever about it, you may be able to track what circumstances maximize your output. You can also see where you might struggle.

“Oh, man; I’ve got this big block I need to get done. Ah, it looks like I don’t ever get much written on Sunday nights, only 50 words or so. I wonder why? Thursday afternoons are when I get the most done. It must be because that’s my half-day at work. Huh. I’ll save the big block for Thursday.”

[rsingwriting]

I saw a post talking about how Terry Pratchett only wrote 400 words a day, how that goal helped him write literally dozens of books before he died. So I reduced my own daily word goal. I went down from 1,000 to 200. With that 800-word wall taken down, I’ve been writing more. “I won’t get on tumblr/watch TV/draw/read until I hit my word goal” used to be something I said as self-restraint. And when I inevitably couldn’t cough up four pages in one sitting, I felt like garbage, and the pleasurable hobbies I had planned on felt like I was cheating myself when I just gave up. Now it’s something I say because I just have to finish this scene, just have to round out this conversation, can’t stop now, because I’m enjoying myself, I’m having an amazing time writing. Something that hasn’t been true of my original works since middle school. 

And sometimes I think, “Well, two hundred is technically less than four hundred.” And I have to stop myself, because - I am writing half as much as Terry Pratchett. Terry fucking Pratchett, who not only published regularly up until his death, but published books that were consistently good. 

And this has also been an immense help as a writer with ADHD, because I don’t feel bad when I take a break from writing - two hundred words works up quick, after all. If I take a break at 150, I have a whole day to write 50 more words, and I’ve rarely written less than 200 words and not felt the need to keep writing because I need to tie up a loose end anyways. 

Yes, sometimes, I do not produce a single thing worth keeping in those two hundred words. But it’s much easier to edit two hundred words of bad writing than it is to edit no writing at all.

[theamyrlinsofa]

This is the second time this post passes on my dash and it’s the best advice I ever got. I can’t write consistently in one go, it’s always about 50 words and then I get distracted and just have to do something else for a while. Do the math quickly: trying to write 2000 words a day takes a looooong time that way. So there were many days where I just didn’t even start writing, cause I wouldn’t reach my goal anyways and feel like a failure. Then I stumbled upon this post and I thought: hey, let’s give this a try. And it works! I set my goal between 200-400 words a day and that’s perfectly doable. Some days I get into the flow and I write a whole lot more. On other days, I struggle to get those 200 out but hey, at least I wrote 200 words and reached my goal. Whatever the outcome, t makes me feel good and accomplished. 

Writing takes practice, so even if it’s only 100 words a day, it’s better than nothing. If it worked for Terry Pratchett and me, than it can work for you too!

[muffinlance]

My own tags because I am particularly proud of them:

#l also endorse this method #The important thing is to get your butt in the chair and make a habit of that #The writing follows like a stray cat: you need to sit long enough to lure it into your lap #At which point you’re stuck there until the writing leaves (you finish) or you need to go to the bathroom badly enough to disturb it

[quietwingsinthesky]

there’s wip (active development) and wip (stuck in development hell) and wip (oh you’re not even getting funding for this one)

[blackcherryblood]

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

[steelb1ues]

[TikTok by @/ghosthoney. He is a white man with shoulder length dark brown hair with an ombre to a lighter gold, brown eyes, a mustache and a small beard. He is wearing a pale pink denim jacket, a grey shirt, with lighting which shades him with dark blue shadows. He appears to be laying down on a red cushion. A yellow sans-serif font with black outlines on each letter appears to caption his words. Soft, lofi-type music plays quietly in the background as he talks. Description below.]

[“if you’re an artist or creative person and you haven’t made anything in a really long time and you feel bad about it I’m here to say (video cuts in quickly to his face) don’t worry about it (video reverts to regular size) you’ll make stuff again when you’re ready to make stuff again and I know it’s annoying I talk about it all the time but I took a three and a half year long break from making art (video cuts in on his face again, his eyes wide as he raises his eyebrows before cutting back to regular size again) yeah three and a half years (he chuckles shortly) and one day I just woke up and I was like: I think I wanna paint again and I did (shots of the image he painted are displayed) I ended up painting a little scene from our trip to China (cuts to a shot of him standing up, proudly holding the canvas in his hands next to the right of his face, a painting of a landscape with several plants, buildings and a grey sky) (the video cuts back to him laying down) and when I finished that piece I was like surely that was just a little fluke and I’ll see you all again in another four years but then the next week I made (he pulls in a canvas with a pink donut painted on it, a small dark brown smiley face on the pink frosting, small ears and speckled with darker pink sprinkles) chansey donut (cuts to better image of the painting and a small “chansey” is heard, a reference to the pokemon, Chansey) (cuts back to him holding the painting) yeah, my pride and joy! (he laughs, before leaning in for a short, impassioned kiss with the painting) I love you so much (cuts to him looking back at the camera, without the painting) when I took a little break from making TikToks during the holidays I made this painting! (he brings the painting into the frame, showing a pizza with various toppings, two silver containers filled with food in the top right corner and dark turquoise bowl with light brown soup at the top edge of the canvas) (shots of the painting are displayed) this was a meal we ate in Hangzhou (cuts to him standing proudly, holding the pizza to the right of his face with two hands) a rose and mango pizza and mushroom soup (cuts back to him laying down with the painting in hand) very heavy on the rose flavor it was so bizarre I had to immortalize it in paint (a slow pan over a different painting, one with various hues of green, with a small waterfall, rocks and trees, in an almost forest-like landscape) now I’m two days into this big painting that I’m making up (cuts to him in front of the painting, smiliing softly) as I go along and it’s so fun (cuts back to him laying down) if you’re an artist you’re always going to be an artist and no amount of time you spend away from creating is ever going to change that” End ID.]

[online-accessibility-sideblog]

Thanks for description and transcription!

[botwstoriesandsuch]

Pssst

Hey, are you an artist or writer with WIPs?

Come here... I got a secret for you pssst come ‘ere

[kittmoon]

waiting in deep suspense

[botwstoriesandsuch]

Psst you ready here comes the secret

Here it comes

[moinsbienquekaworu]

I am also very curious about this secret

[botwstoriesandsuch]

Your time spent enjoying the creative process is infinitely more valuable than any final project you create. So stop putting yourself down for never finishing or posting those WIPs because every moment you spent creating something you loved is a moment not wasted. Your progress and talent is measured by your passion not your number of posts.

[sagegarnish]

🦀 Kudos Crab 🦀

If you are scrolling and see Kudos Crab, your fics will be blessed!

You will get good comments and kudos!

You will beat your writers block!

GO AND WRITE!

[moonrise-rebel]

[Image Description:

A small cute orange crab with raised claws that are holding a "KUDOS" sign with the Archive of Our Own logo (embellished with some dots above it).

End ID]

[wipweek]

WIP Week is officially underway!

As per tradition, the prompt for Day 1 of WIP Week is Your Oldest WIP.

Please tag your entries with the #wipweek or #wip week tag. Since multiple fandoms and ships are participating, please clearly list the fandoms, ships, and content warnings in the post so that they can be properly tagged for any potential readers.

Though each day will have a theme, you do not have to post every day. You are also not obligated to follow these themes. You can work on one fic or artwork for the entire week if you choose. If you’re not comfortable posting full updates but still want to participate in the week, you can post your daily word count and/or a small snippet from your work.

You can also post completed/updated fanworks to the official WIP Week AO3 Collection!

[wipweek]

WIP Week (Work-In-Progress Week) Returns in June!

WIP Week is a week dedicated to updating fanfic or other types of fanworks.  All fandoms are welcome to participate.  Original works are also accepted.  Please tag your entries with the #wipweek or #wip week tag. Since multiple fandoms and ships are participating, please clearly list the fandoms, ships, and content warnings in the post so that they can be properly tagged for any potential readers.

The second WIP Week of 2026 will be held June 21-27. 

Each day will have a theme, but you do not have to post every day. You are also not obligated to follow these themes. You can work on one fic or fanwork for the entire week if you choose. If you’re not comfortable posting full updates but still want to participate in the week, you can post your daily word count and/or a small snippet from your work. The use of AI is prohibited.

Here are the prompts for WIP Week:

June 21: Your Oldest WIP June 22: A WIP From Your Smallest Fandom June 23: Your WIP Closest To Completion June 24: Your Favorite WIP June 25: A WIP From Your Largest Fandom June 26: Your Newest WIP June 27: Any WIP

You can post completed/updated fanworks to the official WIP Week AO3 Collection!

[tea-earlgrey]

source

[livingmeatloaf]

[image ID: a sequence of four paparazzi photos taken of Ben Affleck stacked vertically on the left and labeled on the right. The first shows him walking out of a door while holding several boxes of Dunkin Donuts along with a drink, labeled "This is going to be a quick one-shot". He is holding onto the top box with his teeth, nearly bent over in an effort to carry everything. In the second, he has slung an arm around the pile, which has started to tip, and it is labeled "Okay, maybe the one-shot will be longer." In the third, the center of the stack has buckled outward as he tries to hold onto them, the drink flying from his hand, and it is labeled "There's so much plot now." In the fourth, he stumbles backward into the door, empty arms akimbo, drinks and food packages spilling onto the ground before him, and it is labeled "It turned into a multichapter." End ID]

[deathbecomesthem-deactivated202]

Please. Write it. Write the thing. Even if you feel like it's shit. Even if you think no one will read it. Even if no one reads it. Even if you think the words make no sense. Even if it breaks your heart. Especially if it breaks your heart.

Please. Write it.

[deniselavestal-deactivated20231]

''Useless'' Writing Reminders

Save your documents. Strive to be safe, not sorry.

Back-up your documents. Strive to be safe, not sorry.

Placeholder names can quickly turn into forever names. Picking name(s) on a whim can lead to great things, or it can become your worst nightmare (😁).

Your writing has value. Yes, even the most inadequate of writing. You don't have to boast or even like everything you've ever written, but even the most questionable of writing will have contributed to your growth as a storyteller. Cherish it for what it is.

You can take a break. It is absolutely okay.

First drafts are scary. But you know what's more scary? Not having a draft at all.

Using clichés or ''overdone'' tropes will not kill your story. Firstly, tropes are building blocks. Secondly, humans actively search to consume stories revolving around these tropes.

Write your heart out. Boast about your writing. Boast about your friends' and fellow writers' writing. Everyone deserves recognition, even you, from within your own heart. (Sorry. That's really cheesy. But it's true).

[quinnjgraham]

I know this is the website where we talk about artists and writers doing anything other than making art or writing, but man, we REALLY undersell how good it feels to actually work on your stuff.

Like you hit your word count for the first time in a week and its like

[finishwhatyoustarted-event]

[ID: a document with a FromSoftware banner over it that reads "WIP worked on". End ID.]

[ninjasmudge]

worlds slowest fanfic author tries really really hard

[ninjasmudge]

everyone in the notes we are all holding hands. everyone who hasnt worked on a wip in weeks or months or years, its okay. we are going slow but we are going

[pastperfectcontinuous]

I want you to write for pleasure—to play. Just listen to the sounds and rhythms of the sentences you write and play with them, like a kid with a kazoo. This isn’t “free writing,” but it’s similar in that you’re relaxing control: you’re encouraging the words themselves—the sounds of them, the beats and echoes—to lead you on. For the moment, forget all the good advice that says good style is invisible, good art conceals art. Show off! Use the whole orchestra our wonderful language offers us! Write it for children, if that’s the way you can give yourself permission to do it. Write it for your ancestors. Use any narrating voice you like. If you’re familiar with a dialect or accent, use it instead of vanilla English. Be very noisy, or be hushed. Try to reproduce the action in the jerky or flowing movement of the words. Make what happens happen in the sounds of the words, the rhythms of the sentences. Have fun, cut loose, play around, repeat, invent, feel free.

Ursula K. Le Guin, Steering The Craft