A goat won't have anything to do with a cliff...

[C James]

I wrote this in response to Ieshwar's writing prompt in the writing prompts forum

 

Ieshwar and Graeme wrote too, and they were so good I wanted to post a link here.

Ieshwar, though, seems to be under a misaphrenesion that I use cliffhangers.

 

Graeme, the Aussie rules football isn't so bad.. Now, Cricket, that would have been terrifying.

 

BTW, I'd very much welcome anyone writing on that topic to add theirs to this thread.

 

Now for my own little short (very short) story, entitled "A goat wouldn't have anything to do with a cliff."

 

 

 

Stumbling up the precipitous path, the wizened old goatherd cried out out again, "Scarp! Where are you, Scarp?" as he pressed onwards and upwards, in search of his missing goat.

 

Mumbling to himself "Where has that Damn goat gotten to now?" he fought for his breath, tired from the long climb, struggling to trudge the last few yards to the top of the windswept crag. Upon reaching the small, flat expanse, he cursed what he did not see; no black goat,

instead, all he could see was rocks, and sky. Stumbling towards the overlook, buffeted by the roaring wind, he cursed his folly; the goat wasn't on the crag after all. But, it must be somewhere... "Scarp!" he bellowed again...

 

Resolving to gain sone use from his climb, he edged towards the line between rock and sky, knowing that it was the edge of a vertical

drop to his pasture land, several hundred feet below. Dropping to a crawl, he edged closer, ignoring the loose dirt and gravel and the downward slope as he neared the edge.

 

Finally able to inch his head forward far enough to look over the dizzying precipice, the old goatherd laid eyes on a familiar black shape far below. "Scarp," he muttered, seeing the black goat looking up at him, "I've climbed up all this way, and there you are, right back where I started."

 

Inching backwards up the incline, or attempting to, the old goatherd struggled for purchase, the wind buffeting him, fear gripping his heart as he began to slide towards the drop, the looming abyss seeming to reach out and pull him over the edge. Scrambling for a handhold that wasn't there, he spun around, sending his legs over the edge, as his wizened fingers tried in vain to stop his fall.

 

Hanging by one hand from the final lip of rock, his body dangling, his grip failing, he glanced down at the recalcitrant goat, and heard himself say, "I should have known Scarp wouldn't come up here... a goat won't have anything to do with a cliff..."

[Ieshwar]

In fact, I didn't know where to post the story, here or the writing prompt. But I decided the latter for a more 'formal' look!

 

Here is my contribution. It's a message to C James from his readers who being victim of his cliffhangers.

 

Whitie staggered around in the road, road where he used to saunter around when he was just a small kidd. Yeah, those days

[AFriendlyFace]

 

Oh my!

[C James]

 

Oh my!

 

Now, I will point out that my story has a moral; it's proving that a goat won't have anything to do with a cliff, or, of course, a cliffhanger.

 

:pickaxe:

[wildone]

Okay CJ,

 

I will give my view as a reader. this is what I read in your story, and I don't believe you can deny this isn't the message that your were trying to get across:

 

Stumbling up the precipitous path (leading to where? maybe a cliff?), the wizened old goatherd cried out out again, "Scarp! Where are you, Scarp?" as he pressed onwards and upwards, in search of his missing goat.

 

Mumbling to himself "Where has that Damn goat gotten to now?" he fought for his breath, tired from the long climb, struggling to trudge the last few yards to the top of the windswept crag (another word for a cliff). Upon reaching the small, flat expanse, he cursed what he did not see; no black goat,

instead, all he could see was rocks, and sky(must be standing near a cliff). Stumbling towards the overlook(edge of a cliff), buffeted by the roaring wind, he cursed his folly; the goat wasn't on the crag(cliff) after all. But, it must be somewhere... "Scarp!" he bellowed again...

 

Resolving to gain some use from his climb, he edged towards the line between rock and sky(cliff), knowing that it was the edge of a vertical

drop to his pasture land (cliff), several hundred feet below. Dropping to a crawl, he edged closer, ignoring the loose dirt and gravel and the downward slope as he neared the edge(cliff).

 

Finally able to inch his head forward far enough to look over the dizzying precipice(cliff), the old goatherd laid eyes on a familiar black shape far below. "Scarp," he muttered, seeing the black goat looking up at him, "I've climbed up all this way, and there you are, right back where I started.(at the bottom of the cliff)"

 

Inching backwards up the incline(cliff), or attempting to, the old goatherd struggled for purchase, the wind buffeting him, fear gripping his heart as he began to slide towards the drop(edge of the cliff), the looming abyss(cliff) seeming to reach out and pull him over the edge(cliff). Scrambling for a handhold that wasn't there, he spun around, sending his legs over the edge(cliff), as his wizened fingers tried in vain to stop his fall.

 

Hanging by one hand from the final lip of rock(cliff, and hanging means cliffhanger), his body dangling(cliffhanger), his grip failing, he glanced down at the recalcitrant goat, and heard himself say, "I should have known Scarp wouldn't come up here... a goat won't have anything to do with a cliff..."

 

So someone who doesn't use cliffies (referred to 16 times) or cliffhangers (twice), you sure referred to them a lot in a 6 paragraph story.

 

And you know what the irony is? What happened to the goatherder? We'll never know, as once again, CJ finishes with a cliffhanger, literally!

 

 

Steve

[C James]

Okay CJ,

 

I will give my view as a reader. this is what I read in your story, and I don't believe you can deny this isn't the message that your were trying to get across:

So someone who doesn't use cliffies (referred to 16 times) or cliffhangers (twice), you sure referred to them a lot in a 6 paragraph story.

 

And you know what the irony is? What happened to the goatherder? We'll never know, as once again, CJ finishes with a cliffhanger, literally!

 

 

Steve

 

Steve! I'm shocked that you could twist my words so... Here I write a sweet, lovable vignette about a Goat named Scarp, and give it the moral of "A goat would never go anywhere near a cliff". and then you try and claim it's a cliffhanger, and twist my words... Shame on you!

[Meeko]

Steve! I'm shocked that you could twist my words so... Here I write a sweet, lovable vignette about a Goat named Scarp, and give it the moral of "A goat would never go anywhere near a cliff". and then you try and claim it's a cliffhanger, and twist my words... Shame on you!

 

 

He got you there Cj, and again i must say... tisk tisk tisk you and cliffs ohh my...

[C James]

He got you there Cj, and again i must say... tisk tisk tisk you and cliffs ohh my...

 

But LC... The whole moral of my story is that a goat wouldn't ever have anything to do with a cliff.

[Graeme]

As requested

 

"And in today's top story, we cross to Dimitri in the Australian Outback."

 

"Thank you, James. We are here at the scene of the latest success story from the Global Overt Anti-Terrorism unit, known colloquially as GOAT. The factory you can see behind me was being used by a sinister organisation of international arms dealers for the manufacture of nuclear weapons. The eventual purpose to which those weapons were to be put has not been revealed, but what we do know is that the plot was only foiled through the brave actions of an undercover GOAT operative. For security reasons the name and face of that operative have been suppressed, but we can reveal that he goes by the alias 'Shadowgod'. In the meantime, teams are busy dismantling the bombs prior to transportation to a secure location. The person in charge has fervently denied the rumours that the Australian government will be using the bombs as part of the negotiations currently underway with the USA to get Australian Rules Football on American TV. Back to you, James."

 

"Thank you, Dimitri. Coming up after the break, the latest on rock sensation Instinct and their tour Downunder. You won't believe what they did in Sydney today."

[wildone]

As requested

 

"And in today's top story, we cross to Dimitri in the Australian Outback."

 

"Thank you, James. We are here at the scene of the latest success story from the Global Overt Anti-Terrorism unit, known colloquially as GOAT. The factory you can see behind me was being used by a sinister organisation of international arms dealers for the manufacture of nuclear weapons. The eventual purpose to which those weapons were to be put has not been revealed, but what we do know is that the plot was only foiled through the brave actions of an undercover GOAT operative. For security reasons the name and face of that operative have been suppressed, but we can reveal that he goes by the alias 'Shadowgod'. In the meantime, teams are busy dismantling the bombs prior to transportation to a secure location. The person in charge has fervently denied the rumours that the Australian government will be using the bombs as part of the negotiations currently underway with the USA to get Australian Rules Football on American TV. Back to you, James."

 

"Thank you, Dimitri. Coming up after the break, the latest on rock sensation Instinct and their tour Downunder. You won't believe what they did in Sydney today."

 

Great Post Graeme, but I must say that after all the defending of you, you turn around and end that clip with a........CLIFFHANGER!!!!

[C James]

Great Post Graeme, but I must say that after all the defending of you, you turn around and end that clip with a........CLIFFHANGER!!!!

 

I have been very patiently waiting for someone other than me to notice that Graeme ended that story with a CLIFFHANGER!

 

Thank you Steve!

[Ieshwar]

CJ, you just confessed that you use cliffhangers!

[C James]

CJ, you just confessed that you use cliffhangers!

 

Huh?

 

How did I do that? I was just waiting for someone to notice that Graeme used one...

[wildone]

CJ, you just confessed that you use cliffhangers!

 

Ah, I think I'm onto your way of thinking Ieshwar.

 

Are you saying the Graeme was shadow writing for CJ, thus meaning that although Graeme's name is associated with the passage, he was doing so with CJ's blessing, thus meaning the actually published work credit will be given to CJ

 

Very interesting angle.

 

Steve

[Graeme]

I should point out that Instinct are CJ's characters. I can't write about what they were up to as that would be breech of copyright... If you want to know what they were doing, you'll have to ask CJ

[C James]

Ah, I think I'm onto your way of thinking Ieshwar.

 

Are you saying the Graeme was shadow writing for CJ, thus meaning that although Graeme's name is associated with the passage, he was doing so with CJ's blessing, thus meaning the actually published work credit will be given to CJ

 

Very interesting angle.

 

Steve

 

ACK! Hey now, no twisting things! :P

 

I should point out that Instinct are CJ's characters. I can't write about what they were up to as that would be breech of copyright... If you want to know what they were doing, you'll have to ask CJ

 

ACK! Now, now, you wrote that Cliffie Graeme... (unlike me, who never writes cliffies) But as for what they were doing, Y'all will have to wait a few chapters for the Australian leg of the tour... We might even see Kangaroos!

[TalonRider]

While there may be a dispute about who is the Master of Cliffhangers, there is one author who has become the Master of Misdirection with his stories. He manages to start each new chapter unrelated to the last, then brings you back to it.

 

Jan

[C James]

While there may be a dispute about who is the Master of Cliffhangers, there is one author who has become the Master of Misdirection with his stories. He manages to start each new chapter unrelated to the last, then brings you back to it.

 

Jan

 

I have no idea to whom you could possibly be referring.

[TalonRider]

I have no idea to whom you could possibly be referring.

Don't worry CJ, I wasn't referring to you. I actually mean one of the authors I work with.

 

Jan