Learn about the incredible story of the author of “Decalcomania” who succeeds as a writer being dyslexic

The young woman began writing a fanfiction about her favorite book: Harry Potter. At just 13 years old, Lily created her own story around this magical world before the sixth book in the series was published. She was in love with James, Harry’s dad; and it was precisely from him that she was inspired for this novel that was published on a fandom platform that, to this day, no longer exists.

It was many years later that Lily del Pilar discovered Wattpad. Specifically in 2012 she after reading a post about it on Twitter. “My life is a disaster”, that is the name of the first book that she published in the application. And, being sincere during her conversation with Trade, confesses that he never imagined the impact that his lyrics could have on readers, both in his country and abroad. It is in this context that the author arrives in Peru for the first time to present “Decalcomanía”, the second part of “Decalcomanía”, with which she continues her struggle to break the taboos that exist around homosexual relationships, especially in Latin America.

—Due to your condition of dyslexia, which is the alteration of the ability to read by which the order of letters is confused or altered, how is it that you decide –or take the risk- to write your own stories?

I learned to read and write at the age of 8 because basically I didn’t want to learn to read. My school counselor called my dad. They told me ´he has dyslexia problems´, but at that time that kind of thing was not investigated. When I write by hand I have a hard time, when they spell words the same for me. But when I write on the computer it doesn’t happen to me as much because the brain is not the only one that learns, but also the other muscles and organs are also capable of learning. My hands know the words, how they are positioned (on the computer). All the books I have written on the computer. Never on paper, I couldn’t either.

—Since you wrote that first Harry Potter fanfic did you know you wanted to be a writer?

It is not a race where they deliver a title at any moment it can disappear. It was at any time, you can go, I ran out of imagination, I ran out of books, so it’s like a contract that you have to constantly renew with yourself, because you need ideas to write, so until you have ideas you can continue being , but already the moment I made you without an idea is like well, here I got here.

—At what point in your life does “Calcomania” arrive?

“Decal” I started writing in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic. It took me two months to write “Decal”. In February 2021 I started with “Decalcomania” but I reached the twenty-something chapter and I left it behind because I went on to publish “Stay With You” and “Stay With Me”. Life absorbed me and I left it thrown. I picked it up again this year in March and it actually took me a month to finish writing it.

—But why take inspiration from a time as harsh as the dictatorships in Latin America?

I was reading on Wikipedia about dictatorship and I realized that Latin America between 60 and 90 almost all countries were under dictatorship and from there the idea was born.

—Why choose a homosexual couple as the protagonist of biology “Decal”?

I love the LGTBI community, I am part of the community too. So, I seek to be a voice. It’s a bit ironic because people think that the only book I have from the community is about men, that is, gay love. But Adela (from “Forbidden to go out with Adela”) is bisexual. So, since before I was in this, it’s just that people don’t know that much, they are my books, so that’s why they assume that I only write about men.

—In Latin America it is sometimes difficult to write about the LGTBI community without being, to call it in some way, judged. Do you feel that with “Decal” you are trying to break taboos that exist around the community? At some point did you feel repressed by society when you touched on issues related to the LGTBI community?

Yes, completely. I couldn’t tell you exactly which ones, but yes (I’m looking to break taboos). We are living in an age that I call “false morality” because people are so worried about what other people are doing and they don’t even see what they are doing. So I say moral failure, because they say “don’t do this” and it’s the first thing they do. Yes, society is full of people talking about self-righteous comments.

—Did they ever try to censor you on Wattpad for this topic?

They wanted to censor me many times. A lot of people made videos so they wouldn’t read me, but that’s worse because when a person says don’t read something or don’t do something, they want to do it more.

—What is special about the forbidden romance between Liú Tian and Xiao Zhen, the protagonists of “Decal”, to make the reader fall in love?

The same thing I told you, when someone tells you “don’t do something”, you want to do it more. That happened precisely with my book, which made many videos of “don’t read it” and it was worse because more people read it, they gave it more publicity instead of hiding it. So, the same thing happens with forbidden romance, the more he tells you “don’t do it”, the more you want to do it.

From the first moment I knew it was going to be as it is, because of course, a writer knows a main idea and I already knew how it was going to end, I always knew it was going to be a forbidden romance. Every time something happened between them, I had to emphasize that they had closed the door, they had put a latch because if they did not find comments of “they will discover them”. So I had to make sure the characters made it clear that they were in a safe place.

—Over there I heard that you are a fan of K-Pop, who are your favorite idols? Are Liu Tian and Xiao Zhen inspired by any of them?

Yes, I am a fan to the extent that I travel to another country to see them in concert. BTS and Seventeen are my favorites. I can’t say who they’re inspired by, it’s forbidden.

—As a last question, what do you take with you after each encounter with your readers?

It’s a bit strange because we lived in a pandemic for so long that it was very bad, I became a little more social because I’m an introverted person. So, I charge myself with energy in silence. (Returning to this normality) is strange because you receive energy from other people again and it is something that one had become unaccustomed to. But now you realize how important it is.