Phil Halton

Phil Halton is a Toronto based novelist and screenwriter. Before turning to writing full-time, he worked in conflict zones around the world as an officer in the Canadian Army and as a security consultant. In particular, he has extensive experience in Afghanistan. He is the author of a novel set in Afghanistan, This Shall Be a House of Peace (Dundurn Press, 2019) and a contrarian history, Blood Washing Blood: Afghanistan’s Hundred-Year War (Dundurn Press, 2021). His latest novel, Every Arm Outstretched (Double Dagger Press, 2020), is set in 1978 during the Nicaraguan revolution. He has published stories and articles in such publications as Thing, Ricky’s Backyard and the Canadian Army Journal. He founded Toronto-based literary journal Blood & Bourbon. He holds a Master’s Degree in Defence Studies from Royal Military College of Canada, and a Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing from Humber College.

Twitter: @phil_halton

Instagram: @phil_halton

Are there particular films that have influenced your writing?

My first novel is set in Afghanistan and describes the origins of the Taliban movement. But the structure of the book began by relying heavily on that of two films – The Seven Samurai (Set in feudal Japan) and The Magnificent Seven (a classic Western). I used those two films as touchstones because the themes were consistent with what I was aiming for with my book, and there was a superficial resemblance in terms of the plots as well – a group of outsiders agree to defend simple rural folk, though in ways they have more in common with the bandits than they do the farmers. Westerns in particular are a goldmine in terms of themes I want to explore – civilization vs wilderness, individualism vs corporatism, and the place of violence, justice and redemption in society.

There is as much good writing on television or the big screen as there is on bookshelves. It only makes sense to draw inspiration form stories wherever they can be found. I find film particularly good for sharpening one’s ear for dialogue.

Favorite non-reading activity?

I’m lucky to live both in a big city (Toronto) and a hundred yards or so from a beach, and I love the fact that I can get out on the water with my paddleboard every day (except in winter!). It’s good exercise, but it’s also meditative, and I know that if I am having trouble untangling some issue in a story, getting out and exercising often gives my subconscious mind the room it needs to solve it.

What’s the difference (at least for you!) between being a writer and an author? How do you shift gears between the two?

Great question. These are two sides of the same coin. Being a writer is about being creative, and building stories and worlds that people want to immerse themselves in. Being an author is about marketing those stories so that people have the opportunity to enjoy them. You can’t really have one without the other, unless you are content to write things that no one reads, or promote things that aren’t your own. 

If you could create a museum exhibition, what would be the theme?

One of my many hobbies is working as the Curator of a military museum here in Toronto. Part of my duties includes deciding on what exhibits we will create, where they will be displayed, etc. My favourite part of the job is finding the really interesting aspects of continuity between the past and present. Certainly, much has changed over time in terms of politics, technology, etc, but human nature has remained constant. It makes the past seem so much more accessible when I can put a powder horn that a soldier carved his name into in the 18th century next to a canteen on which a soldier painted the same in the 19th century, and then explore why soldiers felt driven to do that thing. (In both cases in my example, they were citizen-soldiers who looked for ways to maintain their individual identity despite being in a homogeneous organization, I think).

Do you speak a second language? Do you think differently in that language? Does it influence your writing?

I speak three languages well, and two more with some basic fluency. This has a major impact on how I think and write. At a basic level, I often see connections between words in different languages that have a common root, which leads me to think more about word choice and meaning than I might otherwise. But I also think differently when my internal monologue makes the switch to another language, and I feel that even my personality changes. I fear that my English-speaking self is the least interesting of the lot!