How can a Wattpad character make millions fall in love online? The author of “Irresistible error” speaks

“No matter how much you deny it, mistakes always repeat themselves, Leah. And I am that mistake you can’t stop making.”

The previous phrase, possibly, is one of the most repeated in the so-called world of ‘Bookstagram’ or ‘Booktok’, subcommunities in social networks where books are discussed. It comes from “Irresistible error”, a novel by the Mexican Melissa Ibarra, alias Kayurka Rhea, who last weekend had a meeting with her readers in Peru. A way to repay the fame that she has achieved and that translates into more than 48 million readings of her book in wattpad.

The writer born in Culiacán (Mexico) discovered the free reading platform in 2015, when she was 16 years old and still in school. Before that, Melissa used to handwrite all her stories in a Jonas Brothers notebook that she still keeps. The first idea that came to her mind was the plot for “Chronicles of a Prostitute”, but she soon left Wattpad and returned only in 2019 with “Irresistible error”.

“What I wrote in 2019 was very little, it was less than half of ‘Irresistible error’, because I didn’t have time. He studied, worked, had a boyfriend, friends; So, it didn’t give me life. When the pandemic started and we all went into seclusion, there was nothing else to do. So I finished it very quickly and when I least expected it, out of 50,000 reads, we were already 200,000 in one day”he says during a conversation with Trade which took place on the morning of last Saturday at a hotel in Miraflores, moments before his departure for his activities related to the Kokoro Book Fest.

But, despite what many would believe, the story of Leah McCartney and Alexander Colbourn in “Irresistible mistake” emerged during a normal day at the office. “I was very comfortable in my job counting flies and out of nowhere I had a coffee, I remember that coffee perfectly, and I said ´it would be great to write an ´enemies to lovers´, that has a lot of tension, where families hate each other. Romeo and Juliet type, but contemporary. It was a book he hadn’t found; so, I wrote what I wanted to read in a book”stressed the author.

And, if there is something of “Irresistible error” that has definitely fallen in love with the readers, that would be the protagonist. What is the most interesting thing about this character? For Melissa Ibarra herself, it is difficult to give an answer.

“I have no idea (why Alexander is so loved). It’s a question that even I can’t answer. I only wrote to the man I would like to meet. And the man that I’m with somehow. That’s why Alexander is like that, I mean, he’s a real character. Obviously he screws up, he does good things and bad things, but it’s part of the nuance of him. We all have nuances, I like that” he assures with a smile, probably remembering the affection he feels for the character.

Meanwhile, Leah McCartney has several characteristics of the author. “He is a character that he always likes to dominate, I am like that. It was very difficult for me to give up control of situations in my life, of decisions. So, I was able to see my process through Leah of how she was starting to relax a little more and she just let things flow.”

Faced with all the success that “Irresistible error” has been reaping, it is when we realize the fundamental role that social networks such as Tik Tok and Instagram have played for the dissemination of stories. “(Social networks are) the biggest driver in this project, in this dream, because before it was very difficult to get readers and now, with this tool, it is easier. We are more aware, in fact, we look for recommendations on TikTok all the time and that is what helped me”Ibarra says.

And it is even more curious because Melissa was not the one who started creating her own videos to spread the story, but it was the readers – who fell in love with the story – and decided to organically share “Irresistible error” on the internet. “First it was people who thought about my books, I didn’t start making my own videos until 2021. That’s when I said ‘well, I’m going to make my Tik Tok account, a new facet unlocked,'” he specified. “I always dreamed of being made a Tik Tok like Ariana Godoy or like Alex Mirez. I said ´they are never going to make me a Tik Tok´ and now I see that there are a million videos”, add.

Finally, in relation to her presentation at the Kokoro Book Fest, Melissa Ibarra confesses that her heart raced because of the reunion with her Peruvian readers. Because an interesting fact is that her first book signing of her entire life was precisely in Lima, in the middle of this 2022. On that occasion, the Mexican managed to summon more than 200 people just to meet her. That, somehow, left Peru in her heart.

“I was super excited (to return), they even made me want to cry with happiness, because I say ´what loyalty and love I have from my readers´. (…) In the signatures I have about 30 seconds per person, but in that time I want them to know that I do appreciate them, that I love them, that I love having them there. And I hug them with great enthusiasm because everything I am is because of them, that is, without them I am nothing”ended.