Back at school you learnt that every story has a ‘beginning’, ‘middle’ and of course, ‘end’.

The ‘beginning’ sets up the ‘middle’ – the part where big-time choices must be made. Or perhaps it is the point when everything depends on being at the perfect place, at the right time with the precise prompts holding the slightest of nudges to move forwards.

The ‘beginning’ shows how the protagonist(s) or situation (s) first appeared. It provides context to the story.

What were the driving forces leading to the ‘middle’s’ current situation?  Who were the key players? What are their stories in relation to the main characters?  Why are the central characters behaving as they do? Why do they think in certain way?

How did a mashup of circumstances, that may even at first been completely unconnected, assimilate to build a critical bridge or footpath that took us here? When did a pivotal incident take place? Where did it happen?  Why? How? What was its lasting effect?

The ‘middle’ is where we are now.

Given all that came before… the people, the situations, the relationships, the circumstances, the predicaments…what choices does the protagonist really have left? Are those choices what’s needed –as opposed to what is wanted?  How do such choices fit in with the current situation?  Where could all this lead?

The ‘end’ is where all these ingredients take the protagonist, along with us (the readers or audience).

Sometimes, just as one situation finally gets fixed – in truth, the end turns out to be just the beginning of tackling a completely new set of issues or opportunities.

The Marvel movie franchise uses this technique with their various superheroes. Each movie stands on its own as a story, but is also interconnected with previous narratives and characters.

Consumers lap-up great brand stories.  They help identify not just where a brand comes from, but how it developed; what it does, and where it next takes the consumer.

Brand stories are rich in architypes including:

Fans

Believing in a vision of an enhanced product or service that is primed to revolutionise a market or category.

Changers

Looking to transform a core sector or category to deliver something different.

Visionaries

Always ahead of the pack, they have an unshakable faith that brands can become a force for the good. 

Healers

They will do whatever it takes to help people, the planet or businesses; however tough or thorny any issue may appear to be.

The semicolon

When I taught copywriting at places like the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Google, as well as for other major brands and charities, I sang praises for the powers wielded by the magical semicolon.

It is after all, a beautiful punctuation mark.

In 1494 the Italian printer Aldus Manutius the Elder first published a semicolon.  He used the semicolon to separate words of contrasting meaning and to allow a quick change in direction when connecting interdependent statements.

The English playwright and poet, Ben Jonson was arguably the first notable English writer to use the semicolon systematically.

Today, the semicolon joins two independent clauses without using a coordinating conjunction like ‘and’.

To put it another way, the sentence preceding the semicolon is directly related to, and effects whatever the sentence that follows the punctuation mark.

Not just a mark; a scar-making cause

Increasingly, people who know someone or have personally experienced a mental health condition (well over one – in four people in the UK alone) may wear the semicolon as a tattoo.

I wear one because it reminds me that whatever happened before, led me to where I currently stand.  What happens next is (as far as I can control it) my choice. It’s all influenced by the cards comprising the tools, information, people and circumstances as spread out before me.

Irrespective of the good or bad stuff that led me here, the end story still remains in my hands.  Nothing would have happened if it wasn’t for what came before and how I either responded or reacted then – and now.

The next chapter maybe the start of something totally different.  I could find myself assuming the role or Healer, Changer, Visionary, Fan… the life-adventure-story continues…

And surely these guidelines make for the best stories of them all, be they brand stories or personal stories:  Your story.

Jonathan Gabay

[Only read the following bit if you are grammar tech-head…]

Semicolon usage examples

We can go to London to see the sites; Mondays are pretty quiet.

Some people write with a word processor; others write with a pen or pencil.

You can’t swap semicolons with commas or full stops.  Instead, think of them as a kind of halfway house between, a comma (but stronger) and not quite as divisive as a full-stop.

Tricky issues

Wrong: The cow is brown, it is also old.

Right:The cow is brown; it is also old.

What’s going on here? Both parts of the sentence are independent clauses, and commas shouldn’t be used to connect independent clauses if there is no coordinating conjunction. This mistake is known as a comma splice.

Wrong: I like cows, however, I hate the way they smell.

Right: I like cows; however, I hate the way they smell.

The conjunctive adverb ‘however’ signals that there is a connection between two independent clauses.  To be safe, avoid using commas to connect independent clauses if there is no coordinating conjunction.

Wrong: I like cows: they give us milk, which tastes good, they give us beef, which also tastes good, and they give us leather, which is used for shoes and coats. 

Right: I like cows: they give us milk, which tastes good; they give us beef, which also tastes good; and they give us leather, which is used for shoes and coats.

It’s unclear what the three list items actual are, since they are separated by commas.

Wrong: Cows, though their bovine majesty has been on the wane in recent millennia, are still one of the great species of this planet, domesticated, yet proud, they ruminate silently as we humans pass tumultuously by.

Right: Cows, though their bovine majesty has been on the wane in recent millennia, are still one of the great species of this planet; domesticated, yet proud, they ruminate silently as we humans pass tumultuously by.

It’s unclear where the first independent clause ends, and the second independent clause begins.

Wrong: Because cows smell; they offend me.

Right: Because cows smell, they offend me.

The first part is not an independent clause, so no semicolon is required.