We don’t like guns because we like guns. But we DO like guns. Gun manufacturers don’t make $billions every year selling guns to farmers or even armies. The AR-15, America’s bestselling gun, is a sexy-as-hell consumer item. Like a lethal steel iPhone but significantly less useful. I appreciate the vocal efforts of Hollywood A-listers campaigningContinue reading “Stop using guns as a symbol of personal empowerment”
Author Archives: Damien Walter
What does a nomad writer pack for 4 years on the road?
Hello! My name is Damien Walter, and I am the nomad writer. I’ve been travelling since November 2013, across Thailand, India, Malaysia and Indonesia. I’m a slow traveller, staying at least two months wherever I go. My main base of operations is Chiang Mai, the “digital nomad” capital of the world. Read Slouching Toward Nimmanhaemin:Continue reading “What does a nomad writer pack for 4 years on the road?”
Beyond the Rhetoric of Story
Since I began work on The Rhetoric of Story, a little over a year ago, the success of the course has far exceeded my expectations. Since launching on Udemy, the course has been in the top 12 of writing for 4 straight months! To date over 1600 students have taken the course, and they’ve hadContinue reading “Beyond the Rhetoric of Story”
A sad truth. Readers will always steal from writers.
This is a little story about volition. Specifically, the choices writers make about how we share and “monetize” our work. It’s a sad little tale, but please read to the end for the moral. “there’s an extra irony here, that these were writers, who no doubt stomp around the internet chanting Pay The Writer wheneverContinue reading “A sad truth. Readers will always steal from writers.”
Odd Gods
Gods are an irresistible subject to writers. They were, after all, the first characters, in the first stories. “In the beginning was the word” is both true, and a clever way for ancient scribes to improve their job security. God is, when all’s said and done, whoever is writing. I found myself writing these storiesContinue reading “Odd Gods”
Creativity Is A Wild Mind
“Creativity is a wild mind & a disciplined eye.” ~ Dorothy Parker Read more Dorothy Parker. Learn the Rhetoric of Story, course code STORYTEN.
One very useful thing to know about depression
Through the month of September 2017 I fought a small scale conflict, against an army of negative thoughts and emotions that had claimed the territory of my mind. I recognised this mental state well. It was what we commonly call depression. To win this fight, I needed strategies. I went back and reviewed the bestContinue reading “One very useful thing to know about depression”
Can you name a story where nothing changes?
Two old tramps stand in a field. One struggles to take off his boot. The other does nothing to help. They talk, but they don’t listen. They are are waiting for somebody. Whoever it is does not arrive. And that, folks, is the whole of Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett. Beckett’s play is oneContinue reading “Can you name a story where nothing changes?”
Watch Blade Runner 2049, then read this.
Spoilers. Watch first, then read. Blade Runner is a diamond of a movie. A broken genius crazy novel, adapted into a mashup noir / scifi screenplay, directed by an auteur who had his main sight on other projects, vandalised by a studio who didn’t know what they had, with its best lines of dialogue improvisedContinue reading “Watch Blade Runner 2049, then read this.”
Five questions the new Blade Runner must answer
Any Blade Runner fan who doesn’t have mixed feelings about the Blade Runner 2049 sequel probably isn’t much of a fan. Hollywood sequels have a bad track record of course. And while the presence of Harrison Ford might encourage some to hope for a sequel as mighty as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, many ofContinue reading “Five questions the new Blade Runner must answer”
All stories are fractal. Here’s why.
The best storytelling has a unique quality. Wherever your enter the story from, if you switch on the tv and start watching 20 minutes in, or catch a single scene in isolation, or (heresy!) skip to the end and read the final pages, the story engages your interest. Even if you don’t understand the wholeContinue reading “All stories are fractal. Here’s why.”
Westworld didn’t deserve those Emmys anyway
If you really want to divide people into two opposing tribes, and judging by the political divide between Conservatives & Liberals it seems that we do, then this is the real dividing line. People who treat culture as absolute. vs People who see culture as a construct. Pop quiz. Is America a real place? OrContinue reading “Westworld didn’t deserve those Emmys anyway”
Damien Walter 