The Cloud Writing Competition and Project

TheNextBigWriter in conjunction with Odin Roark of iPOV BOOKS present the first workshop-built-novel. The novel will be comprised of individual chapters/short stories written by different writers from TheNextBigWriter around a central theme and premise.
The Cloud

The novel project called THE CLOUD is a concept created by Odin Roark based on a premise that challenges religion, commerce, and science, as well as general behavior in the 21st century. The plot involves reactions to a dark gray cloud that takes residence over the skies of Las Vegas in August of 2013 and is still there at the book’s conclusion in January 2014. The genre of this book is literary.

Thought at first to be just another incident of weather, the cloud ultimately becomes a concern for both science and religion, as over the course of several months, it seems to be moving only a few miles at a time, always returning to a similar position over Las Vegas. Given the seeming permanency of the cloud, science investigates, coming up with no answer as to how and why it refuses to move away or extinguish itself.

City coffers begin to suffer for a lack of sunshine, and low hotel bookings begin to pose serious problems to tourism. Conventions, vacations and weekend getaways continue to be impacted, as well as the job market. Layoffs begin, casino profits plunge, and for the first in its history, concern for the bottom-line compels the city to conserve energy by shutting down 30% of their night lighting after 10 PM.
Writer Guidelines

The Cloud will consist of a minimum of 10 different short stories based around the premise of the cloud. Each writer may submit as many stories/entries as they want.
Details on Submitting Your Entry

The plot of your story should surround The Cloud’s impact on your characters' personal lives, as well as their careers, either now or in the future if the cloud doesn’t dissipate. Such characters can be residents or visitors to the city, or as outlined above, reside in another city.

REMEMBER, THIS BOOK WILL BE READ LIKE A VOLUME OF SHORT STORIES, RATHER THAN A CONTINUAL NARRATIVE AROUND A FIXED GROUP OF CHARACTERS. THE THREAD THAT TIES IT TOGETHER IS THE “CLOUD” EVENT AND ITS IMPACT ON CHARACTERS.