Ok so I'm writing a book. Fiction. Shh.

If you have an iPad, you can go get a little comic called I Count Smiles that I did a few years ago. It got mixed reviews and I wish I could draw better, but I really like the core concept underlying the ten pages. It's a concept I've played around with in my head for many years. It goes like this:

When you die, you relive your life in a loop. You see everything with full omniscience, so if you were a bad person, reliving your life in a loop is hellish. If you were a good one, the same infinite replay is more like heaven.

I don't genuinely believe this is waiting for me in the afterlife, but I like to think about it. So let's say this day would be something I relive. What would make it better? It moves me from myopically thinking about what's right in front of me and turns me more into a movie director or a curator.

So!

I'm writing a novel-type thing and it's currently called "And Then?" I have a bunch of ideas for how to write a story with this backdrop. But I'd love to know if anyone else has any ideas. You die and relive your life infinitely. What are the implications? How could this be an interesting book?

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Does saying "So let's say this day would be something I relive. What would make it better?" imply that you already have knowledge of the infinite loop beforehand?
Would this playback be in first or third person?
Would the story end once you die, because you already know what happens?
Once you are in the loop, how much control do you have?
If you are sociopathic, reliving your "bad" life wouldn't be hellish, right?

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The person doesn't know about this afterlife loop when they're living their life, but then you relive it. Infinitely, not just once. So there's plenty of time to think "damn it, I wish I had known about this loop thing."

The first or third person thing is an interesting wrinkle. I'm imagining it like the person is trapped. They're seeing and experiencing everything first hand, but can't actually change anything.

Good point about the sociopathic part. I'm envisioning it like you're reliving with total empathy. Either right away, or maybe it's just repeated viewings where you gain it. Either way, the construct I'm envisioning would be true justice - bad people have a bad time. Good people have a good time.

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Interesting. You would have to go through multiple characters to explore the different endings. I'm still not sure how you would jump from one character to the next though.

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Oh, the book would be only through the lens of one person, over and over. So no multiple endings or multiple characters. Who knows if this person is good or bad, probably best to make it a blend :)