Story Overview

This is not meant to the final story overview. At this point, I have a vague sense of what the story is. I'm trying to sketch out some ideas. It's my stream of consciousness at this point in time.

I've been playing with a couple of titles for the novel. I have 3 possible titles, "Life on the Run", "Running out of Lifetimes" and "Man on the Run". All 3 appeal to me and all 3 do a somewhat decent job of hinting what the superficial and deeper story is about.

We begin with the prologue. It introduces us to the main character, Matthew. It is early in the morning and the alarm clock is ringing. Matthew wakes up and begins his preparation for the day. He is going to run a marathon in the next couple of hours. He mulls around his apartment getting ready for the event (eating breakfast, psyching himself up). We also get a sense of the life that Matthew has led. It's a fairly successful life but we sense a tinge of regret in Matthew (hence the regretful protagonist). One of things I also need to establish is why Matthew has decided to do a marathon.

I've been playing around with the idea of having Marco (an old friend) dying in a tragic accident. In all likelihood, I'm not going to do this. Marco and Matthew used to be the best of friends but have a somewhat estranged friendship now. This estrangement is mostly perceived by Matthew. Marco still cares for his friend deeply.

At some point, I'll take the reader back to the point of greatest regrets in Matthew's life. The greatest regret of Matthew is his failure in a sporting event from his late youth. I'm not sure where I should introduce this. It's sort of critical to the plot. It's key to the plot because Matthew cannot find his redemption and move on until he accepts the past and let it go.

Another of Matthew's regrets is his inability to tell Marianne his feelings. Marianne is Marco's younger sister. She is also Matthew's love interest. Another factor in his perceived estranged friendship with Marco.

The marathon serves as a metaphor for Matthew's life. I'm not sure how large parts of the marathon are going to get written yet.

One idea is that Matthew has lost the ability to finish things. Along the marathon, Matthew meets external and internal mentors to help him face up to his regrets and help him regain his ability to finish. One internal mentor could be his younger self. Other internal mentors could include fear, uncertainty and doubt. The marathon ends by Matthew conquering his regrets and finish the race. At the finish line, we see Matthew reunited with Marco and Marianne. Matthew comes to terms with his regret and is ready to move on with  life.

In the epilogue, we get complete resolution of the story. Perhaps where he first had to deal with his regrets or a place symbolic of it. But rather than being a place of despair, it is now a place of triumph. We see him, Marianne and Marco together. The story ends.