# Andy Coughlan

> Fantasy writer exploring the edges of storytelling

By Andy Coughlan.

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## Recent posts

- [Start here: On Writing Fantasy, Building Systems, and Understanding How People Think](https://andycoughlan.com/start-here-on-writing-fantasy-building-systems-and-understanding-how-people-think): New to my work? Read this first.
- [Screenplay structure: why film needs different architecture](https://andycoughlan.com/screenplay-structure-why-film-needs-different-architecture): You know three-act structure. Every screenwriting book starts there. But understanding why film stories are structured…
- [Dealing with imposter syndrome](https://andycoughlan.com/dealing-with-imposter-syndrome): Every writer I know has felt it. The conviction that you don't belong. That the things you've written are fraudulent,…
- [Your villain believes they're right](https://andycoughlan.com/your-villain-believes-theyre-right): The best villains in fiction don't think of themselves as villains. They have a worldview. A logic. A set of values…
- [New apps and websites](https://andycoughlan.com/new-apps-and-websites): I do like to tinker with building apps and websites, and it's been a while since I shared my recent efforts.…
- [Unreliable narrators in SFF](https://andycoughlan.com/unreliable-narrators-in-sff): There's a thrill in realising you've been lied to by the person telling you the story. When it clicked that the voice…
- [Killing your characters: when, why, and how](https://andycoughlan.com/killing-your-characters-when-why-and-how): Character deaths are powerful. They can be the emotional high point of a story — or they can feel cheap,…
- [How to fix a saggy middle](https://andycoughlan.com/how-to-fix-a-saggy-middle): You started strong. The opening crackles with energy. The characters are vivid, the premise is gripping, the stakes are…
- [Agency](https://andycoughlan.com/agency): Agency, in terms of character and plot, is something that has always been something of a mystery to me. So when my…
- [The comfort reread](https://andycoughlan.com/the-comfort-reread): Some books are events. You read them once, they change you, and you put them on the shelf with a kind of reverence. You…
- [The gap](https://andycoughlan.com/the-gap): There's a phase in every writer's development that almost nobody warns you about. Ira Glass described it better than…
- [Screenplay dialogue: the art of less](https://andycoughlan.com/screenplay-dialogue-the-art-of-less): In prose, dialogue can meander. Characters can talk the way real people talk — with tangents, repetitions, verbal…
- [How to write action scenes that work](https://andycoughlan.com/how-to-write-action-scenes-that-work): Action scenes should be the exciting bits. So why are they so often boring on the page? The problem is, and it's one I…
- [Getting edited hurts, but do it anyway](https://andycoughlan.com/getting-edited-hurts-but-do-it-anyway): I'm currently working with Jo Fletcher on my latest fantasy novel. Jo is a legend — one of the most respected editors…
- [Pacing: when to speed up and when to slow down](https://andycoughlan.com/pacing-when-to-speed-up-and-when-to-slow-down): Pacing is invisible when it's working. You only notice it when something feels wrong — the story dragging, or rushing…
- [SFF and the big questions](https://andycoughlan.com/sff-and-the-big-questions): Science fiction and fantasy get dismissed sometimes. "Escapism." "Genre fiction." Not proper literature that grapples…
- [You made it. Now prove it.](https://andycoughlan.com/you-made-it-now-prove-it): I have a love-hate relationship with AI. I love using it to help me build apps and websites, develop and test ideas and…
- [Want, wound, need](https://andycoughlan.com/want-wound-need): Every writing book talks about what your character wants. Fewer talk about why that want matters — or what's really…
- [Why screenplay format matters](https://andycoughlan.com/why-screenplay-format-matters): I have to hold my hand up, I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to screenplay formatting. Screenplay format seems…
- [The worlds we want to live in](https://andycoughlan.com/the-worlds-we-want-to-live-in): Part of why we read fantasy and science fiction is the worlds. Not just the stories that happen in them — the worlds…