Our Favorite Mistakes:Theme From RED

"I kissed him intensely and at the moment I didn’t care if I was making a mistake."-Peyton Hayley Giordano (RED)

Starting today, I'm going to write blog posts based on the many themes of my upcoming novel, RED. I think sometimes people get so caught up in a story that they forget to take lessons out of them. I'm going to make it easier for you all to pick out the lessons and themes from the book. You'll understand more once you read it. 

 

As most of you all know (hopefully all of you), no one is perfect...not one of us. Therefore, it only makes sense for characters in books to not be perfect. They need flaws like everyone else. RED is full of characters with flaws (some major, some minor). The topic of today's post is mistakes. We all make them and we're all guilty of them. 

 

The problem with mistakes is that we usually know beforehand when we're making one. In fact, a lot of mistakes are premeditated but something inside of us pushes us to do it or "give it a try" anyway. We tend to count these things as mistakes but are they really? I like to believe that we all have our favorite mistakes...the ones we keep making over and over again. Eventually we learn but it takes times, even years!

 

What is it about us that we have to keep doing the same things over and over before we learn? Are we just wired that way? Is it human nature? Are we all just a little "crazy"? I think in a way we're all martyrs because that need for drama or hurt is what feeds us (all of the writers/artists out there know what I'm talking about). In my opinion, characters should be no different. 

 

There are plenty of moments in the novel where readers may hate the main character or call her "stupid" or even just get plain tired of her but again, that's the point. It's realistic. Have you ever met a teenager who didn't continuously make the same mistakes while trying to find who they are? Again, we're all guilty of it. The act of making mistakes is a vicious cycle and it sometimes takes more than once for us to get it and change our ways. 

 

Another funny thing about mistakes is that we tend to make the same mistakes our parents or siblings made. Sometimes we learn from their mishaps but other times we find ourselves in the same place they once were. How frustrating is that?! 

 

That's another concept you'll see a lot in RED; Peyton making  a lot of the same mistakes her mother and father already made...except most of the time she doesn't even know she's making them. Some are bothersome to read and others are a little easier to digest (but they're all frustrating). 

 

At the end of the day it's important to remember that we're all just human and making mistakes is part of being just that. We don't always learn the first time and sometimes even the second or third, but it's okay as long as we do learn eventually. There's no time span on how long it takes. Some mistakes are bigger than others but that doesn't mean that they can't be made right. Whether your favorite mistake is cheating, pushing people away, rebellion, or finding yourself in some less than desirable situation...it's okay. It all can turn around if you just drop your ego, let go, and learn. Ego...that sounds like a good topic/theme to talk about next. 

 

Here's a song all about making the same mistakes over and over: