Fantasy Authors Interview

Meet Su

We've got another awesome Fantasy author for you today. Hailing from the country of Sri Lanka, please welcome, SuVida777, and let's hear what they've got to say.

What is your country of origin?

Sri Lanka

What other languages aside from English can you speak fluently?

Sinhalese (native)

Are you writing under a pseudonym? Is there a story as to how and why you came up with it? Please tell us about it!

Yep, but it's not an exciting story though. Su Vida is actually a shortened form of my way-too-long first and second names! Most people call me Su anyways—and Vida apparently means "life", which is cool.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? Why do you want to be a writer?

I've been escaping into story worlds from a very young age—books, animation, movies and video games. Stories are powerful—they inspire you, transport you to whole new universes and wake up your brain cells. This is why I wanted to be a creator, which led me to a career in art and animation.

For the longest time, I've only written short scripts, as well as designing characters and worlds for animation/advertising projects. In 2020, I made a new year resolution to actually write the novels I've been slowly planning over many years. In January 2021, I put up 10 chapters of Komoreby on Wattpad!

Please tell us about your story/ies on Wattpad so that readers could find them.

I read many kinds of stories, but I love how fantasy and sci-fi stretch your imagination to the limits. All of my art, animation and writing fall under these genres. My Wattpad novels to date fall under sci-fi, where I make fantasy real—whether it's fun powers, mermaids, fairytales or high fantasy worlds. Here are some of them!

1. Komoreby: It's been just over a year since I uploaded my very first book, Komoreby! It's a quirky YA novel that's like a near-future Alice in Wonderland retelling.

It follows the story of Evanna, a cute gamer girl, who moves to a glamorous Asian eco-city, where she starts school at the prestigious Komoreby High. Unfortunately, the very first day spirals to rock bottom—and as if that isn't bad enough, she's zipped to a parallel universe, where teen romance is banned, prefects raid classrooms and shadow education sucks up all your time (based on real Asian schools). Yep, it's a fusion of school story, sci-fi, mystery and romance—featuring a high fantasy game world, cool telekinetic powers, shoujo anime tropes and even symbolism from Greek/Roman mythology.

2. Rhodoreef: My big project this year (while writing the Komoreby sequel)! I'm fascinated with the oceans—almost as much as space. It's a largely unexplored frontier brimming with magic, mystery and potential. So I've been meaning to write an ocean story—one based on my Ariel illustration that won first place in the Rewind the Classics contest last year!

The ONC came along, and voila! I present you Rhodoreef—a retelling of The Little Mermaid with a funky Indian Ocean mer-city, air-breathing mermaids, eco themes and awesome tech. Did I mention telekinesis, deep-sea marvels, mushy romance and kawaii sea cows?

3. Cornucopia of Otherworldly Tales: This is my ongoing fantasy and sci-fi short story collection! The very first story is The Goddess of Door Hinges, in which a cute minor goddess finds love and recognition in a mortal high school!

For you, what is the importance of having a process in writing? Do you have a process? If so, please tell us about it. If not, why?

The most important thing for me is having fun—and also deciding what I want to convey with the story! Unless I'm writing flashfic for a contest, I don't wrack my brains for story ideas—I only write if an idea that resonates with my soul takes shape of its own accord. I write what I'm truly passionate about, and I go all out with the character design, research and world-building.