• Sansindu Abeysuriya on self-publishing his comics and his upcoming novel MO

Sri Lanka has quite a large fan base for comic books and manga, but not many have been written by locals. Sansindu Abeysuriya, a huge lover of all things fiction, took it upon himself to broaden the market. The 18-year-old is a self-taught, self-published author who has had humongous success with his comics Firethorn and Grimm Romance.

Sansindu began writing at the age of 15, when he had the idea for the “Firethorn” universe. “The universe is quite similar to ours, except they stopped advancing in technology a long time ago, and instead, began using magic.” Firethorn was thought of before he improved his drawing skills, so he eased into it by practising with storyboards and reading various other fictional stories. “Books like Young Samurai, Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl inspired me to begin my first light novel, and so the Firethorn series was born,” he commented.

He produced Firethorn’s images by drawing on paper and scanning them, as this was before he taught himself digital art, which makes it all the more impressive. Currently, he uses a drawing app on his iPad for his comics, and began an art and drawing course immediately after his A/Ls. The book was released during an edition of the Lanka Comic Con and gained immense popularity among the younger generations. It catered towards audiences aged 13-18.

Talking about his journey in self-publishing, Sansindu said: “Right after my A/Ls, I went to a printing place and got Firethorn printed, and because I didn’t want to look for a publisher, I self-published.” He also founded the brand MangaSL, which is now his very own book publication. He commented on the intention behind MangaSL, saying: “The reason I formed it was because there’s not much of a market for manga in Sri Lanka, so I wanted to find a group of people that can actually get to it, and I connected artists, authors, and editors together to work on projects at the same time.”

With more people joining their cause, they currently have a few projects ongoing for more light novels that will be released in the coming months. He also revealed how surprisingly hard it was to find a publisher willing to publish English books in Sri Lanka, which was another reason he chose to self-publish.

Whilst Firethorn was intended for a younger audience, Grimm Romance is geared towards a more mature audience. Grimm Romance was co-written with American author Jesse Lucas and released during the 2018 Lanka Comic Con. This book was written as a part of a competition but evolved into a fully-fledged graphic novel. The process behind the collaboration was simple. “We came up with a story idea together, then he (Lucas) scripted it, and I did the storyboards and drew the whole thing.”

The story is about a girl in Japan who joins Tinder, matches with a boy and goes on a date with him only to find out that he’s a grim reaper. It’s a well-written story that will undoubtedly leave you wanting more. The story is currently being uploaded on the app Webtoons, and he also sells it on Amazon, although the first book is available in hard copy.

He has another book in the works, called MO, which is a novel based in Sri Lanka, intended for a more mature audience. “It’s going to have all the nuances of Sri Lankan society and all the fun quirks of being Lankan, but with a dark side.” He commented that most of his stories end up with a dark twist at the end, and noted that as being one of his quirks.

The story is going to be based on Buddhist folklore and stories of Sri Lanka. The theme will be anti-extremism. “The main character has extreme ideologies, not the kind that Sri Lankans have right now, but how certain Buddhist traditions have been twisted to symbolise something they are not. The character is knowledgeable in Buddhism and has a tendency to correct people when they’re wrong. He’s extreme, but on the positive side. He lets his knowledge cloud his judgement and the story develops from there,” he explained.

Sansindu also studied Buddhism for over eight years and has a higher diploma in Dharma and Adharma, which he’s putting to good use in his upcoming book. This genre of the new novel is going to be a psychological thriller, which had him actually studying psychology. “Just because I wanted to introduce a crazy plot twist at the end,” he added.

Lately, he has started doing art commissions, which is basically drawing for authors for their storyboards, in order to bring the plot together, on an app called Fiverr, to help him further his drawing skills and gain more exposure in the field. Sansindu hopes to develop the manga industry more in the future whilst also continuing to write novels and create art.