The Equality of Storytelling

I think 1 of the things that is very, very fragmented.

I don't know how to phrase this in terms of the value, and it certainly comes through in my writing. Is making sure that every voice in the room is heard that is acknowledged in some way.

Even if it's an opposing voice, meaning a voice that doesn't necessarily agree with me, are my value system. I still think that there's considerable value in hearing people, just listening to people. Alrighty folks.

Welcome back to transacting value. We're encouraging dialogue from different perspectives to unite over shared values. Our theme for season 4 is intrinsic values. So what your character is doing when you look yourself in the mirror?

And now for our first mini series on the show called broadcasting value, We're showcasing how storytellers, authors, podcasters even showcase and put their values into the characters and settings within their stories, plays, products, and brands and release that out to the world and to their audiences.

If you're new to the podcast, welcome. And if you're a continuing listener, welcome back.

Today, we're talking our February core values of harmony, kindness, and passion with a man who's reached pretty impressive cloud and claim within the screenwriting community specifically, David Matthew Barnes.

He's written 15 novels, 3 collections of poetry, 7 short stories, more than 70 stage plays. They've been performed in 3 languages in 12 different countries.

He writes in multiple genres, romance, horror, young adult type things. He's won literary awards, poetry awards, And primarily as coming of age stories is how these characters and and emotions and perspectives are showcased.

So we're gonna dive into a little bit of that and a lot of bit about values and character development without further ado. Folks on Porter, I'm your host, and this is transacting value. Alright, David Matthew. How are you doing?

I'm doing well. How are you doing? Great. Great. I appreciate it. And just for the sake of brevity, Can I call you DM? Is that cool? DM. It's perfect. And it's shorter. Yeah. That worked out well. Fair enough. Alright.

Well, so DM, first off, let me say I really appreciate taking some time out of your morning, be a natural on the West Coast, and given us an opportunity to just talk, I think you've got so much cool stuff and such an awesome perspective and personality to showcase.

So when you wrote me back and said you'd be interested, I was really excited to get this opportunity. So just wanna open by saying thank you for your time.

Now for all of our listeners and even people that just don't know who you are as an author or as a director or as screenwriter, but especially since nobody else can see you right now, let's start with a little relateability.

Alright? So, you know, in short, who are you? What experiences have shaped your perspective? What do you do these types of things? The floor's yours? Well, thank you for that. I appreciate it. Thank you for the invitation to be here.

I I really appreciate that. Who am I? You know, at the heart of everything, I think, above and all of a storyteller, And I think just to mention the part of who I am, I think it's just the way that I'm wired.

I think, you know, I whenever I walk into a room, I've never been into before, I'm looking at it, I think, a little bit differently than most people because I might be capturing it in my mind to retell it again, on page or on page or screen or or so forth.

And, you know, I'm an creative person. I am fueled by creativity. I am truly I'm still in touch with that level of imagination that I had as a kid.

And and I used that to tell stories and to to share those stories with readers and viewers and so forth. And, yeah, I think that at the core of who I am as a storyteller for sure.

And who I am as a person, you know, I come from a sort of humble background, humble beginnings, and have worked very hard, obviously, to get where I am today and where I'm continuing to go.

And so far, I've been a teacher. I've been a storyteller most of my life. I've been many things to many people as they say. So -- Sure. -- makes for an interesting day. Yeah. But it does. Interesting life as it turns out.

I mean, as much as you've put on paper, I imagine not all of that is totally a hundred percent made up. It's gotta be rooted in some sort of experiences and opportunities and insights or other people's lives for that matter.

Right? Yeah. No. I I mean, sort of a 2 heart is in response to that 1 as I consider myself a professional eavesdropper.

So whenever I'm places that I'm hearing interactions between 2 people or more than 2 people, you know so much of what I write and where it comes from, comes from observation, and comes from listening, and just over time, really sort of, you know, fine tuning those skills.

Just sort of I'm I'm kinda like a story detective.

You know, as stories find me, I find stories. But then the hard part, like, you're saying is sort of deciding which of those stories are if there's potential there to tell a bigger story, if it's the beginning of something bigger, Yeah.

And I I'm also a very big reader, and I just love story and words and language and the significance of words that I'll form what they can do, the power of language, the powerful word, I mean, you know, 1 word to somebody can change their life in a in a really big way.

So I love that. I love lowering that creatively. Yeah. I totally agree with you.

And I mean, it might be as simple as just, hey, you look nice today. That changes your entire outlook for a day, or it might be something you read in a book that changes your entire perspective for your life and anything in between.

But it's interesting you brought that up because you said earlier, you know, fueled by creativity that you had as a kid or or your imagination and ability to interpret that.

And I think that level of literacy and competency, I guess, as a capability, is diminishing it's not at least in public discourse. You don't talk about as much anymore.

You know, like in schools, so my son, he's a for example. So in elementary schools and for anybody listening, I'm talking primarily to the United States and no specific curriculum. But in schools, the focus is get the right answer.

The focus isn't the process and the interpretation and the poetic license and the socialization and you know, how to interpret what's happening around you or like you brought up earlier, how to creatively do something with that if there's a potential to tell a bigger story.

Have you found in your experience over the last few decades that that's been a changing assessment of yours as well? Definitely. I feel like there's less and less reverence for creativity.

And again, we're speaking about Western cultures and probably But for sure, I see it, you know, I've experienced it as a teacher, the shift of the architectural students that I've worked with, that there is sort of this less and less focus occurring on the imagination, the courishment of new and creative innovative ideas.

And that is concerning to me for sure because so much of that demand or that sort of filling in the gaps of that, if you will, is gonna rest on the shoulders of parents and other people in the community.

To sort of fill in the gaps a little bit.

Now, I do feel very strongly that teachers in this country have been extraordinary to battle every day. In and out of classrooms, in terms of budgets, in terms of resources, in terms of funding, in terms of not enough teachers.

And So there's that piece too. I will say from my own personal experience though, I do see the shift, for example, when I was growing up, I grew up with, you know, primarily a single mom for most of my life.

And so a lot of that creativity and imagination is the worth I found in other places. And for example, the local library and libraries in the country are shutting down, you know.

So I think that a lot of the things that I had that were beneficial to me growing up with a lot of resources, the media resources that ever beginning from other places to your point are diminishing considerably.

So what does that what does that impact on culture and literacy and so forth and the writers behind me that are coming up, you know.

So they're gonna have less to work with to get started and does it put them at the end of unfair advantage, disadvantage? Oh, come on DM. AI is gonna take care of all the initial props. But yeah. I mean, yeah.

I can write a great story about AI, but I don't know if I wanted to be part of my everyday life, just me personally. But Right. Right. You know, we're we're talking about this this morning while we were eating breakfast here.

About how the sort of spiritual impact on how you interpret society, you know, your values, your morals, your ability to make decisions, that type of aspect.

Because it's not a focus, the more that it gets overlooked, like you just brought up, the less likely creativity in its interpretation is gonna continue to exist and have legs to sort of perpetuate itself.

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The sort of spiritual impact on how you interpret society, you know, your values, your morals, your ability to make decisions, that type of aspect.

Because it's not a focus, the more that it gets overlooked, like you just brought up, the less likely creativity in its interpretation is gonna continue to exist and have legs to sort of perpetuate itself.

And so I'm curious, in your experience, in your perspective, Let's dive into your personal values a little bit.

So this is a segment of the show called Developing characters. Developing characters. And you can answer these 3 questions to whatever depth and vulnerability you're comfortable with and for the record and for anybody listening.

If you decide, EM, to answer with I'm not sure. I haven't really thought about it. That's totally cool too. But okay. So 3 questions. First question. When you were a teenager growing up, what were some of your personal values?

This is an interesting question. So growing up as a teenager, I was I really wanted to experience life as much as I could at a very high level, meaning I, you know, the rails and fun the adventure and so forth.

In terms of my values, I think that during those years, in particular, those values were shaping my formative years, if you will, But so much of my values growing up, you know, there weren't a lot of kids like me necessarily that were expressive and creative and other things that were part of my core being and looking for that representation of self to look at role models to create those values that value system that I was trying to shape and form was tough.

And I think that later in life, that's probably why I ended up writing so much for young people.

And I shared with you before, I think there's worth repeating here, is that a great question was posed to me many years later after the fact I was a teenager and it was very reflective question for me. Do you write for young people?

Do you write for young people? Do you write for your younger self? And going back to that era when I was really shaping who I was in terms of a moral code and asset code, I am writing for that younger stuff.

I'm writing the books that I didn't have. I'm writing the screenplays and the stage plays that I needed as a young person to shape and define those. And I think it's difficult.

You know, I don't wanna tell overly negative, but I wouldn't want to be a young person today for anything. I can tell you what's happening in the state of the world, technology, communications, styles, and skills, and so forth.

But you know, I think so often that we're usually a reflection of those that are around us, those people that we spend the most time with.

And I was really aware, keenly aware of that at a young age of looking at the adult around me, not so much to me or after, but this is what I don't wanna do.

So I think that there was there was value there too. And for some reason, I was astute enough at a very young age to notice that and just distinguish that and say, okay. That works for them or it's not working for them, and this is why.

But, you know, I think some of the key things you were talking about earlier Germany and compassion and kind of off 3 of those core values have been part of my life and who I am for many years.

I think that those 3 things really sort of capture my creative spirit that I have because it comes from all of those places or wanting to create all of those places. Right. Just speak to those 3 different values. Sure.

Well, I mean, if that's sort of where you came from, then let me just roll into question 2. What would you say are some of your, maybe, primary values that you try to embody now? I think 1 of the things that is very, very fragmented.

I don't know how to phrase this in terms of the value, and this certainly comes through in my writing. Is making sure that every voice in the room is heard that is acknowledged in some way.

Even if it's an opposing voice, meaning a voice that doesn't necessarily agree with me, are my value system. I still think that there's considerable value in hearing people, just listening to people.

For me, it's very important to recognize what each person contributes brings to the table that there's something that's in their experience that can contribute to whatever scenario is happening at the moment.

And I think 2 I think 1 of the hardest things that I struggle with quite honestly is try, which, you know, try to being people.

I think when you when you're in the industry that I'm in, you have to keep your, what, of a writer's eyes very close to you because, you know, you meet a lot of people that have agenda and and so forth and, you know, how can you benefit their career?

And I think this probably just happens no matter what industry you're in, really.

But in mind, it feels like a little bit more prevalent a lot of sense. So I'm over the years, I've become own more guarded. I used to be much more open and trusty. And like, hey, I'm best friends with everyone and now.

I think just having gone to going into, like, my fourth decade as a writer. So I think that somewhere along the line, I've learned some valuable lessons just about not letting those in too quickly. I don't know. Yeah.

I don't know. Yeah. Sure. I mean, the consideration, the fairness, the I guess, you could call it equality in terms of everybody having a fair opportunity to voice their opinion. I mean, those are all which honestly sounds very ideal.

Right? But I don't know if it's always it's achievable because of a lot of different factors and issues that, you know, equality, equity inclusion and diversity are all very, very huge.

Parts of who I am and what I write, obviously. And I aim for that, always for those experiences. For the people around me, including readers have that shared experience.

Mhmm. But it doesn't always happen. And I think you have to be okay with it, not always happening because the intention is that Well, I suppose it can't always happen, you know, not to say that you can't please everybody.

Right? But there's only so much time and capacity and opportunity. And sometimes there's other factors that dictate I don't know how many opinions can be heard in any given conversation too.

So Yeah. I I think there's a little sort of grounding there that has to be established. But, yeah, I mean, they're called ideals for a reason, you know.

They're not called actuals. So So let me ask you this third question, though. How do you see any of your values changing over, let's say, the next 20 years? You know, I think I'm in that place right now, honestly.

I feel like I'm so keenly aware of, like, I'm questioning a lot more of my value system, I think, than I ever have in my life. And I don't know if it's because I'm in, like, clearly the second half of my life at this point.

But also too, I think I've just gotten to this very reflective place. The pandemic, I think certainly have a big thing to do with that for me.

I I wish a lot of us spent a lot of time looking within during the pandemic to kind of question, you know, what we wanna do and show him steps and what's working with.

I think, you know, like so many people I know changed jobs and careers and everything sort of coming into some strange post pandemic life.

And that that was certainly my case too. I looked with him a lot of it to your question. I do feel, like, separate from the creative. So much of what I used to do was always sort of centered around who I was as a writer.

And that's secondary, I'm sort of like, okay. Who am I? When I'm not a writer. And so I think having those 2 sort of separate identities, the 1 sort of more public persona versus more like who I am intrinsically?

I think that's the that's where I've been sort of stuck at and looking at a lot in terms of, like, are those 2 value systems the same?

You know? And so representing a value system through writing and culture and creativity, which is certainly a part of who I am, but is that who I am, at home. So I don't know if that makes sense.

But, yeah, that's certainly that duality. That duality of, like, are they 1 in the same? Certainly, it's been in interesting exploration for me. I'm still in it. Obviously, I'm sure for anybody or everybody -- Yeah.

-- respective to whatever time it happens. But you brought up a good point over the last couple years and I think it's fair to say globally. A lot of people took time to be able to think about themselves.

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You brought up a good point over the last couple years, and I think it's fair to say globally, a lot of people took time to be able to think about themselves because there weren't any other distractions.

You didn't have a choice. You couldn't even go outside your bedroom in some places.

You know? So it was a limiting feature. It was a boundary that I think people had to work through. But now now we're coming back together. I don't wanna say globally or economically, but just socially within our respective zones.

And so then sort of like the point you brought up the other day when we were talking about how you know, you're you're sort of almost forced now to either question or define or redefine or defend.

Who you wanna be? Who you wanna portray yourself as in society or to yourself or it was like a reset for everybody, you know, intentionally or otherwise.

But To that point, creatives like yourself, influencers in the respective fields, I mean, that's the whole point of arts and humanities. Right? Like, taking your perspective, do interpret whatever's actually happening.

And then ultimately, like, the role you're filling now could be minimal in terms of a microcosm of arts over thousands of years. But your impact as an interpreter of culture, as a creative person in storytelling is huge.

I mean, people still read Socrates and Plato and Homer. Now, thousands of years later, and they were just storytellers of their time too. You know, so I I think your impact is maybe a little understated Right?

Even with a lot of these awards and things, it's almost tough to say understated, but to what you've accomplished, you know, your your impact I think could be a lot further reaching especially given your age group your audience age group.

I mean Yeah. I agree. I feel you know, I think sometimes it's art at least at least I do feel this very of deep set responsibility to the content that we're creating and producing and putting that into the world.

And where does it fit it? What conversation is it contributing to? Sometimes it's just pure entertainment, let's be honest. And there's certainly an need of room for that.

And and then everything has to be high ground sort of, you know, let's get political. That's approach or commentary. Yeah. But and I certainly have those folks too that are just nothing but pure entertainment.

And I own those and claim them proudly. But I I do feel like a couple of things come to mind as 1 is that sort of that responsibility of of the content that we're contributing.

And having that platform that I'm very fortunate, and other writers are very artists are very fortunate to have that I have those channels to put out content that would impact global culture, global conversations, so forth.

Is not something that I should think should be taken lightly.

I mean, no matter even if you only just write 1 book in your lifetime, like you're saying that 1 book with artists when we create something and we put it out into the world, it really no longer belongs to us.

It belongs to the person who's reading it or viewing it or experiencing it. And they're going to take it and interpret it and apply it to their own value system and their own experiences and so forth.

And you're a part of that, but you're not there. And so it's interesting that you're having impact like you're saying through the aggression itself in some form, whether it's a novel or a book or a screen player stage.

But and somebody who watches it or experiences it or so forth, has a transformative experience. You never know that you were part of that transformative campus and readout to you and tell you so.

But it is very interesting. I also feel too that that going back to those, the reason why we I think we still read Shakespeare and Jane Austin and all of those great Greek philosophers you mentioned.

Is because, like most artists do, if they were trying to make sense of their society at the time, and comment on it and sort of put into words that a lot of people aren't able to do and sort of articulate the human experience.

What happened, I think, and the reason why I read so much of that stuff over refer to it is that they really captain to the universality of those things that are still relevant today as people that we experience in this world just day to day, you know, getting up and never seeing the world, you know.

I mean and it's just I think it's all of it's there to just kind of teach us the guidance and to make us take pause when needed. This morning when I woke up. I was I had a kitchen window that looks out of my backyard.

And there were 2 birds just sitting there in the front side, and they were just kind of, like, looking out, blissful and full of joy of just literally just sitting there and soaking up the morning sun.

And it literally made me take pause because I was like, the birds no more than I do.

They're very smart enough just to be like, you know what? All we need is in Sunshine, and we're happy and we're good, and that's all we need to be to be in a place of bliss.

And then it was such a telemoment for me of, like, you know, going and going and going and doing the professional career thing.

And then, like, literally, like, let me just stop and just think about all the fact that they're sunshine today.

You know? So my telephone party, but it's just, you know, I think that artists, we we have to be aware of those moments and those take pause moments that are reflective of there's something in there.

And then we have to write about them or draw them or paint them or fill them and then share them with people so that they are aware. It's just really like we're just here to make people aware.

The end of the day, what is your job as an artist? Make people aware of what's within other people to look within, like, certainly artists have done for me. Already folks sit tight and we'll be right back on transacting value.

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The end of the day, what is your job as an artist?

Make people aware of what's within other people to look within, like, certainly artists have done for me and so forth. There's, I think, an understated beauty to public service announcements.

But in your specific application, it's really impressive to me, especially for writers, to be able to convey and reach out to so many different people and capitalize on the ability of each individual person to interpret what you write differently.

But you write it in a way that everybody could get something out of it. It's relatable. You know, it sort of well, like you say, capitalizes on a powerful moment that somebody can relate to.

There's a book called the storyteller's secret by Carmine Gallo. Have you heard of it? I've heard of it. I I have to be honest, I've not read it, but I have heard of it.

Well, it's a secret. No. In the book, 1 of the chapters he brings up basically is about simplicity for the storyteller to be able to refine and refine and refine until you've identified that moment.

Right? And I think he says something to be effective. If you can't write it on the back of an envelope, then it's trash. Because it's too vague. It's too ambiguous. And it wouldn't likely have as powerful of an impact.

And so I'm curious when you take as I assume most storytellers or authors or writers do pieces of your experience through life and your interpretation of it and inject them into your characters, you can sort of see over the course of what almost a hundred written pieces of artwork you've put together, a common trend that they're yours.

Mhmm. Yeah. You know, because there's I mean, a style, obviously, and topics in an audience, but like pieces of you in your character arcs. And so how do you align your values and your perspective with the work you create.

That's a great question. I think when you were asking that, I my meeting, I thought it was, like, how much of my value system do I share with my characters? You know, like the characters that I create on page?

And are they just a reflection or different version of my own value system in traditional, sort of who I am as as a person. But I feel like everything that I write is definitely parts of myself, my very complex self.

And I think that every character certainly is, you know, obviously different versions of who I am in some capacity or something that I've observed or absorbed.

Sometimes on 2 characters or versions of people that I know in some ways from how they're in in that story and their presence on the page. They're taking up that place because I want them there.

But I do feel like writing for me has certainly been very authoritative in the sense that I've gotten to know myself better by writing and creating different works of art because when I created when I'm in that creative space, I'm not thinking about judgments.

I'm not thinking about society or fitting in or what's expected or what's I'm thinking about the world and that that I'm creating, imaginatively, and, like, what works in that world.

Or, like, a few words to look at the everything I've written. There are some common themes, there are some common values, there are some common you know, there's trends there.

I don't know if anyone's ever done that with my work and I do. I don't know if I wanna actually talk about this. But, you know, I certainly I there's a lot of grief in my work.

There's a lot of overcoming a grief. I write about ordinary people experiencing extraordinary circumstances and how those circumstances change them and their value system and who they are and how they experience life thereafter.

And that's really at the core of everything. Right? But you know, I write very sort of stuff that I feel is very rooted in realism. So I'm not I don't write a lot of, like, fantasy or sci fi and so forth.

Even my horror That's pretty important. Realism, which isn't really hard to do these things. That's to be honest. But -- Oh. -- that I do feel collectively my body of work speaks to who I am.

Really, it speaks to the experiences that I've had, both as a young person, as an adult, as a student, as a son of a single mother, as a brother, you know, as a husband of all the things that I am to people in this world that are part of those experiences.

Certainly it might work. Now I will tell you though, And I think any writer would say that that there are certain areas of my life that'll probably never show up in my work because it's just quote unquote too close to home.

I think the creative person, you know, if it scares you to write it, that's the stuff on it that you should be writing.

But sometimes I follow that and sometimes I'm gonna I can't do that quite yet. So And I think some stories, I think I'll never share and never tell just because that's something you have to keep for yourself. Yeah. It's important.

Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Sure. I really appreciate the opportunity to dive into this and and your willingness to be a little bit more vulnerable and open up in, you know, maybe a format that's not really typically your comfort zone.

So saying that though, I do have 1 other question for you before we close this out though.

As you try to develop, let's say, a better you now that a future you could look back on and be like, Yeah. I did that. I'm proud that went that way. I I learned a lot. I grew from that. That was a good decision, you know, whatever.

That the future you can look back on and be proud of. How do you work that direction now? I mean, even in your, you know, forties or from your thirties or whatever, your still technically coming of age. It's just a new decade, you know.

Still gotta grow and adjust. Yeah. So what have you learned? How do you apply those things now? To be a better you. It's so interesting that you asked that because it came at the peak of that experience.

I think, right now, I think a lot of people are as we were talking about earlier, but -- Mhmm. -- for me, I feel like wanting to be the best version of myself, including living my best life and whatever that means for me.

Right? I feel like it's so in so many ways, it is far greater significance than my life than the writing. Already folks sit tight and we'll be right back on transacting value. Alrighty, folks.

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You want more value for your values. Busbrough can do that too. For me, I feel like wanting to be the best version of myself, including living my best life and whatever that means for me.

Right? I feel like it's so in so many ways, it is far greater significance than my life than the writing, quite honestly than the writing.

Has defined me for many, many, many years. And we'll continue to do so with, you know, after I'm gone, it's probably if I remember for anything, it'll change to the righty.

Right? For sure. Although it'll be remembered for the way that I treated people and how people felt, you know, that I made people feel in a good way.

But what you're talking about, I feel like it's, like, personal evolution and, like, those many different stages of this evolution.

But recognizing that you're in the middle of an evolution that who I'm gonna be in 5 years might not be, you know, exactly who I am today.

But I'm so open to letting those values shift and change and evolve and deepen or all the things that they need to do. To get me to that next place in terms of enlightenment, in terms of who I'm going to be 5 or 10 years from now.

But I do feel like looking back at the experiences and choices look bad and good that have been made personally professionally that have gotten me here I look at them.

I even there was, like, sort of stuff that, quote unquote, you might regret a little bit.

They look at everything as less than I really feel like I'm such a lifelong learn that I always like looking at things that's like, oh, that was a learned teachable moment for myself kind of thing.

And I think being aware that those teachable moments are there for a reason, and this to get us to a better version of who we are or who we can't be. I think sometimes we're not even aware of our own potential.

I think that we go through the day to day and we get by, and we do the things that we need to do. We have to be many things to many people, and we check off all those things, blah blah blah.

But at the end of the day, when you look at the self and who you are to yourself, that's the most important relationship you're ever gonna have.

And I think that that's the 1 that he needs to nurture the most. That's just I know that might sound a little selfish.

But, you know, I think it's really important that at the end of the day, you know, who you are, who you are, who you wanna be, who you are, the relationship with your stuff. I think it's far more critical.

And I think that that relationship with myself has really helped me be more informed about the energy that I output the people that we were talking about earlier that I let in because you have to have some sort of criteria -- Mhmm.

-- for yourself of what is and is not acceptable.

And I think that knowing those things and applying them really can only come from a place of growth and personal evolution. Yeah. Well, you've gotta have a metric of some kind. You know? Yeah. Whitting, you know, unwitting.

Matric is the name of my favorite band. I like that a lot. I'm gonna write that down. You have to have a metric. I'm sorry. No. No. It's it's fun. Make it a sticker and then mail it to me. I'll give you my address. But but you need to.

Right? Here's the case in point, a little bit more close to home to podcasters for anybody listening and and just from my perspective, 2 cents real quick that even in the podcasting community, especially as an independent podcaster.

Right? A host or a producer or a writer or whatever role any of us fill, but in the podcasting community.

It's super easy to get sucked in on social media, let's say, or on Spotify or whatever your distribution platform is. I don't know. Joe Rogen's got x amount of zeros and commas worth of fans.

Gary Vanderchuk, you know, Jordan Peterson, any of these people as podcasters that have x amount of fame, a YouTube video, a million plus views. Okay. Cool. If you look at that, in my opinion, and you say, well, I've got 200.

I've got a thousand. I've got 20. Whatever. And you try to compare the 2, you can't. You're in different leagues. But more importantly, I talk to a lady named Ari during season 3 back in the fall.

And she brought up a point to me that resonated a lot that you can look at those videos, you can look at those people, those podcasters, whatever accounts, and profiles, and see that they've got millions of followers.

But there's billions of people in the world. So if that's your niche and that's what you want to accomplish and that's your passion and you're able to sort of harmonize that with your skill set and capabilities.

Well, then whatever they've done to work for the million or the 1500000. 0 or whatever number obviously hasn't worked for the other 7000000000. So there's still a way that your potential could fill the 6000000000 views.

Right? So you can't even measure to the process. You take what might work and then you evolve and you grow as you go. I think a lot in parallel to the character arcs in your stories or in your plays.

You know, even if what you're trying to exemplify is is that moment and what you're trying to broadcast is the value and the power within that for people to relate to it.

There still has to be a development and growth for every 1 of your characters in every story. Right?

Absolutely because I think that a good story covers that art. So, like, for me, it's always, like, you know, the character in the beginning of the story here, and they're gonna get here because that journey is the interesting thing.

And that journey is usually something that people who read my work or watch my films or movies play. So that's the thing that they connect. Is that the thing that they reach out to me about the most is that the journey of the character.

So I do feel like the representation again matters in that regard. Artifolks sit tight and we'll be right back on transacting value. Legacy means a lot of things.

It's integrity, security, building something that elasts yourself. On let's talk legacy, we explore how experts, unknown names, and others share the way they're leaving more than just memories. What legacy are you leaving?

Listen. Let's talk legacy pod dot com. That's something that they connect that's the thing that they reach out to me about the most is that the journey of the character. So I do feel like a representation again mattered in that regard.

Yeah. That's a powerful point. I I think the awareness that the first thing you said when we got into this conversation the ability to observe and interpret, you know, makes all the difference because nobody's got a right answer.

And, you know, probably a conversation for another time, but you know, all of that looking within.

I don't know where the storytelling comes from. It's a very strange experience and it's to grow up as a straight teller to live as a straight teller to be.

It's my professional career. Now, it's so much a part of who I am, but it's not like, you know, can go to ancestry now if you could call me. Where does the creativity cover?

So it's so interesting that that some people are great tellers in our quotes and how and why we don't always know, but somewhere along the line that was fostered in them, that was encouraged whether it was just themselves encouraging it, which is a lot of times the cave, or that others around them and teachers on experience all of the people we've talked about today.

Have done that encouragement. But it's still interesting for me.

It's like, why me? Like, why why am I having this? Life as I I mean, I'm so grateful for it. I don't wanna come across, like, because I'm very incredibly less than grateful to do what I get to do every day.

But and then there's people who wanna hear by stories. That's something for another time for sure. But it's so fascinating to me of, like, you know, is it a guest?

Is it a curse? Both of those things. But it's interesting of, like, who we all are in the world? That we all have to put up a place in my place for this lifetime. It's been as a storyteller, and I trip up on that a little bit.

So, like, why am I the storyteller that that you know, that's who I am, and that's who I won't continue to be. Yeah. But those are the people that history looks to, the teacher for sure.

You know, you're yeah. Your ability to objectively interpret and express humanity is gonna dictate overall generational progress, not to sound hyperbolic, but That's how it goes.

Good. You know? And I'd love to talk more about it and dive more into well, actually, a lot of stuff. And maybe we can just do that in the future and have you back on.

But for now, for the time being, if people wanna reach out to you, if they wanna check out your work, your books, your screenplays, or just get in touch and reach out, What are some ways people can do that?

No. I'm I'd recommend going to my website, which is WWW dot d mathieu v, and that's DMATTHEWB dot com, EMFEV dot com. All of my information is there.

I'm also on social media and I, you know, people reach out to me for various reasons. And I don't mind that at all. I consider myself very approachable and so many people have helped me and supported my work.

And so if there's a way that I could help somebody else support their work, I'm always happy to do that. But yeah, that's probably the best way is DMV or through through my website DMV dot com or through social media.

If I'm in the middle of writing sort of reaching a deadline, I use I take a little bit of hiatus from social media sometimes to get that work done and focus on what I gotta get done. But, wow, second, eventually.

Sure. Perfect. Well, for everybody listening, we'll have links to DM's website and social media to be able to reach out. That'll that'll be in the show notes But saying that, damn, I really appreciate the opportunity, man.

This was this was a cool conversation, super cool perspective, and something that I've been interested in trying to talk about, so I'm glad we finally had the opportunity.

So thank you. Thank you. Thank you a lot. I really appreciate it. Fantastic conversation. Yeah. That was good.

And again, in the future, if you're interested, let me know. And we'll have you back on. For everybody else, though, I appreciate you tuning in and listening to our core values for February of harmony, kindness and passion.

I'd also like to thank Karmont Gallo and everybody in DM's life that's contributed to his perspective and his ability to write and help foster his creativity.

Because honestly, without you guys in your influence in your input, this conversation would have gone drastically different.

So so I I wanna say thank you to all of you people as well. To our show partners Keystone Farmers Market, Buffin Clecker Farms, and Bus Sprout, obviously, for your distribution.

Thank you. Now folks, if you're interested in joining our conversation, or you want to discover our other interviews, check out transacting value podcast dot com.

You can follow along on our social media where we continue to stream new views every Monday at 9AM Eastern Standard Time on all your favorite podcasting platforms. And until next time. That was transacting value.