Damian Westlake was an old school friend of Richard Castle. When Castle was at boarding school for the first time, he submitted a story to the school literary magazine about his feelings of loneliness and isolation, prompting Damian - the editor of the magazine at the time - to comment that Richard had a genuine talent for writing, with Castle later attributing his subsequent writing career to Damian's words. Damian went on to 'officially' become a writer himself, but he never actually published anything, noting that he lacked Castle's passion for the written word.