I’ve been wanting a conversation with Jared Moses for some time now. Him and his team over at One Brilliant Arc (OBA) have helped me edit some of my works, and they’re doing great things.
One of the things, aside from just being a book and screenplay editor, is that they are helping people with marginalized voices get heard. This has a lot to do with Jared’s earlier life, and I wanted to understand his take on writing, and building community.
The Box
One of the issues Jared talked about, was being boxed in. He said it so casually, like he was reading off ingredients on the back of a cereal box.
African American. Schizoaffective disorder. ADD. A lifetime of people deciding who he was before he ever got to say it himself.
He didn’t sound angry. This is how it’s always been. This is what I grew up in. But you could feel the weight behind it. The way those labels weren’t just labels. They were ceilings and fences. They were the quiet rules people make about you without ever asking who you actually are.
And I think every creative knows that feeling in some way. Even if the labels are different. Some people get boxed in by their family. Some by their background. Some by the industry. Some by their own fear. Some by the algorithm.
The Shift
There are whole groups of people being told the same thing. This is the kind of story you’re allowed to have. This is the ceiling. Stay here.
And instead of trying to fight his way into someone else’s room, he built his own. Because most of us spend years trying to get picked or to get noticed. We think we need permission. My biggest guilt is that we chase an audience.
But Jared didn’t do that. He started talking to people. Actual people. One conversation at a time. Reddit threads. Substack comments. DMs. Just showing up and caring about what someone else was making. And somehow that turned into a community, not just an audience.
There’s a difference. An audience watches you. A community builds with you. An audience claps. A community answers. An audience disappears when the algorithm gets bored. A community stays because they’re part of the story.
The Scary Part
He also talks about exposure and vulnerability. The feeling of being seen before you’re ready. The fear that the real you isn’t enough.
And then he said the thing that tied everything together. When someone reads your work and says, I see you, it changes everything. Not because they liked the story. But because they understood the person behind it. That’s what many creatives are chasing. Not fame or money, well not always. Sometimes what people want, is connection and belonging.
Talking with Jared reminded me that in this world where we consume media, and we create it just to throw it up and hope it sticks, there’s a better way. We can create communities by being real people and treating others like real people too.
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