Ariana Godoy Defied Publishing Rules & Won With Teen Romance Series Through My Window

When Ariana Godoy started writing her first book, Mi amor de Wattpad (My Wattpad Love), she didn’t have a computer or WiFi connection. All she had were pens, notebooks, and the ability to borrow her friends’ computers to type up the chapters she was crafting. To upload her work into Wattpad — a platform for reading and publishing original fiction where Godoy has amassed more than 2.3 million followers — she also had to borrow Internet connection from her friends. Now, Godoy is one of Wattpad’s most successful and award-winning authors: her book trilogy Through My Window about the Hidalgo brothers has been adapted into steamy and extremely popular Spanish-language Netflix original films. “It's been a long road to here,” Godoy tells Refinery29 Somos. “But it's very rewarding to see that all that hard work and all that effort paid off and to see my books everywhere.”

Godoy’s journey is nothing short of impressive. Hailing from Venezuela, the 34-year-old published her first Wattpad story when she was 19, and after garnering support from readers, she didn’t stop posting. Twenty or so stories later, Godoy wrote Through My Window, where young woman Raquel falls for the emotionally unavailable Ares, who is the heir of the fictional corporation Alpha3. Raquel is extremely shy, so her only move at the beginning of the story is to stalk Ares and his two brothers, Artemis and Apollo. When Ares realizes that Raquel has strong feelings for her, he starts stealing her Wi-Fi connection to call her attention. 

“When I wrote about the three brothers and how Raquel was describing them as god with regards to their looks, I was like, why don't I name them after actual Greek gods, making clear the connection between the way she sees them and who they are,” Godoy says. Strangely, Godoy knew a Wi-Fi thief in real life, which is what inspired her to write the story. “In my college years, I had a neighbor that used to steal my Wi-Fi, and I took that as a premise and developed it into more detailed fiction.” 

Netflix Spain didn’t stop at adapting the first book of the trilogy. The following adaptations — Through My Window 2: Across the Sea and, more recently, Through My Window 3: Looking At You, released on February 23 — stream to the delight of the fans of the spicy trilogy. And it’s easy to understand why Raquel (Clara Galle) and Ares’ (Julio Peña) story became such a success. The Spanish actors’ on-screen chemistry is seductive; when they are together, it feels like they are on fire for each other. It’s fiery, it’s dreamy, and it’s romantic. What’s not to like?

The success of the trilogy has changed Godoy’s life. Initially, she migrated to the U.S. in a teacher exchange program, a day job that allowed her to write the trilogy. In 2023, Godoy stopped teaching to write full time and to help finish adapting the trilogy, a job that started during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“I’ve been consulting with the scriptwriter [Eduard Sola] and the director [Marçal Forés], but through video chat because we started during the pandemic and then I couldn't travel for like a year,” Godoy says. “For the first book, I feel that we kept all the iconic scenes that I wanted to keep, like the cemetery scene, and the one on the bed with poor traumatized Apollo. I knew I wanted these in the film because they were the most commented on [on Wattpad], so I could see people really considered those scenes from the book iconic.”

The following films of the trilogy aren’t that faithful to Godoy’s original stories. “The other two films are more about the characters, not so much the story as it was originally. So there was a little freedom there for Forés and Sola, because there wasn't a book behind the sequels. We moved them along in a different plot,” Godoy says. The characters are the most captivating part of the trilogy, also according to Godoy’s readers. 

“For example, Raquel goes through a lot, and I feel like a lot of people find themselves in that situation of unrequited love,” Godoy says. “I get comments like, ‘oh my gosh, this happened to me; it's so painful.’ I feel like that little heartbreak and pain also brings a lot of people into the trilogy.” 

Raquel’s story arc, where she has to learn how to stand up for herself when confronted with Ares’ lack of emotional availability, is something Hidalgo trilogy fans often bring up to Godoy when she meets them. Surprisingly, Ares is also a source of relatability. “You'd be surprised how many people I meet and they tell me, ‘I'm like him; I'm very closed up. Whenever I try to have a relationship, I ruin it because I don't know how to handle my emotions,’ and I'm like, okay, so not only Raquel has fans.” 

When asked if Ares is a bit toxic, Godoy defends his evolution throughout the series. “I don't think Ares is toxic, at least not in the books. And I'm talking about the books because books go a little bit deeper,” she says. “His biggest thing is, he doesn't know how to handle his emotions. He’s never violent or jealous. He's just like, hot and cold, which I do consider is a little bit toxic sometimes.”

Just two years after Godoy first published Through My Window, what she is most proud about the series isn’t its Netflix streaming adaptation or even the core sultry love story. It’s that Through My WIndow has inspired more young Latin Americans and Spanish speakers to read. 

“Through My Window is really easy to read,” she says. “Something happens in each chapter. And that’s the most common comment I get in signings, that this book got them into reading. It feels like I am fulfilled now.”