Writing Tomorrow: A Conversation with Amy DeBellis
By Court Ludwick
Amy DeBellis’ writing has appeared in X-R-A-Y, Passages North, Pithead Chapel, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, HAD, and elsewhere (including yours truly—see here and here for DeBellis’ work in Broken Antler). Recently, we chatted with DeBellis about her debut novel, All Our Tomorrows, out now from CLASH. Set in the near future, All Our Tomorrows follows the separate lives of three Gen Z women as they navigate late-stage capitalism in New York City. Throughout the novel, DeBellis tackles nihilism, climate anxiety, isolation, grief, and struggles with selfhood in a broken and destructive world.
Could you speak a bit to this novel’s origins? Do you remember what you were doing when the idea struck?
I remember exactly what I was doing when the idea for this novel came to me: I was doomscrolling on Reddit. I saw a comment that made me stop in my tracks and read it over several times. I can’t find the actual comment online anymore, but I took a screenshot, and if I can, I’d like to repeat a bit of it (it’s quite lengthy) here:
“Living on a dying planet, with the consequences of all the damage our global civilization has caused, are becoming ever more in-your-face….Our species is already on the slippery slope downwards, and we are rapidly picking up speed. Scream if you wanna go faster.”
This comment gave me chills when I read it. Somehow, I knew I wanted to encapsulate the feeling it gave me into a novel. I also knew that I wanted to write about three young women who were essentially different facets of my personality. So at that point the idea for my novel was literally just “Three vaguely Amy-ish young women in a very near-future NYC experience intense climate dread. Okay, GO!” and I took it from there.
How different does All Our Tomorrows look now, compared to where it began? The novel balances nihilism, climate anxiety, and individual/collective loss with hope for the future. I’m curious—did you know from the start how/where this story would end? Was some level of optimism always present, or was this something the novel moved toward?
In the beginning, I was gearing for a not-so-happy ending. Before I’d even finished writing it, I realized this would not work. I knew I needed to give each character hope for the future so that it wouldn’t leave readers feeling like the novel was a bunch of pointless doom—we get enough of that from social media and the news—but also have it be realistic (not “happily ever after”). It’s a difficult balance to strike.
Of course, it became something much more hopeful in the end. I learned that what makes for a memorable Reddit comment doesn’t necessarily make for a memorable (or successful) novel—especially right now, when people want some form of escapism….or at least something that has a moderately happy ending.
The first draft of All Our Tomorrows was shorter than the final one by close to 15,000 words. For me, editing means a lot of putting in new scenes, fleshing out existing ones, and strengthening existing themes.
What is your relationship to hope?
Hope is essential to life, because if you didn’t have any hope at all, you’d just lay down and die when things get tough, right? But it can be dangerous if you rely too much on hope, because every time you’re let down, you have to go through the whole grieving process all over again. So it needs to be tempered with realistic expectations.
I knew I needed to give each character hope for the future […] but also have [the ending] be realistic (not “happily ever after”). It’s a difficult balance to strike.
I’m really drawn to how you balance the novel’s three central characters—Janet, Anna, and Gemma—and their different perspectives/storylines. What was the most challenging aspect of crafting such a structure? Were there any sections that were more difficult to write/work through/get out on the page?
One challenging aspect was making sure each character’s voice sounded suitably different from the others, because otherwise the whole thing would melt into a kind of early-20s-female-narrator-blob. This required changing my writing style very slightly between each character. With Anna’s sections, since she has the most “artsy” and romantic personality, I allowed myself to indulge in one of my favorite things: poetic and lyrical descriptions. By contrast, I tried to give Janet’s chapters a snarky, cynical tone and slightly more of a bare-bones narrative. And with Gemma’s chapters, I added in some British slang and tried to impart a kind of naiveté that would ooze off the page.
I wrote the first draft in a pretty chronological fashion, as otherwise the timeline would have gotten too confusing. But when I was editing the novel for voice and tone, I would go through Janet’s chapters one by one, skipping over the other girls’, and make sure her voice was consistent throughout. I’d then do the same with Anna, and when I was finished with all of Anna’s chapters, I’d get into Gemma’s mindset. This separation really helped me make sure the girls’ voices weren’t blending into one other.
I always find it most challenging to continue writing when I hit around the 50% mark. At this point, the enthusiasm of starting a new project has faded—but the end isn’t yet in sight. With this book, it was no different. I just had to put on my All Our Tomorrows playlist, put my head down, and power through.
[…] if you didn’t have any hope at all, you’d just lay down and die when things get tough, right? But it can be dangerous if you rely too much on hope […] it needs to be tempered with realistic expectations.
Alongside being a novelist and short fiction writer, you’re also a poet. How has writing across genres altered your relationship to language?
Writing poetry has made me consider the beauty of language on a very small scale. The rhythm of a sentence, its cadence, can be so impactful. I’ve even taken lines from some of my poems and put them in my novels because I loved them so much!
Who are your biggest influences (all-time and/or currently)? Any writers or artists you’re loving right now?
My all-time biggest influences: Donna Tartt, Hanya Yanagihara, Teddy Wayne, and Hari Kunzru. I’m currently loving Mona Awad, Emily Austin, R.F. Kuang, Kate Folk, and Lottie Hazell.
Writing poetry has made me consider the beauty of language on a very small scale. The rhythm of a sentence, its cadence, can be so impactful. I’ve even taken lines from some of my poems and put them in my novels […]
In a previous interview, you’ve mentioned that you wrote this book prior to contracting ME/CFS. How has living with ME/CFS impacted your life/your life as a writer?
ME/CFS is a disease that makes even everyday tasks difficult because it leaves you with so little energy. When I was sicker, in 2022, I could not write at all. Since mid-2023, I’ve been able to write on good days, but I can’t assume I’ll always be able to write. I sometimes have flares, for example, that leave me unable to write for weeks at a time. So when I am feeling decent and have energy, I have to take advantage of it while it lasts. That’s one reason why I finish projects so quickly.
Are there any misconceptions you still find people holding onto (regarding ME/CFS)? Is there anything you wish people knew about ME/CFS that they might not already? (though you do a great job of talking about this on your socials!)
Sadly, there are many misconceptions that people hold onto regarding ME/CFS. Many doctors have (still!) never heard of it, or dismiss it as psychosomatic. I’m going to bring up Reddit again—if you browse the medical subreddits, you’ll find countless physicians deriding ME/CFS patients as “attention seekers” and “afraid of exercise.” (I, along with every single other ME/CFS sufferer I know, would give anything to be able to exercise again.) Healthy people assume that if you are sick, doctors will both want to and be able to help you. But if you have ME/CFS, there is very little that a doctor can do for you—there are no diagnostic tests, no FDA-approved treatments, no cure. And that’s if they even choose to believe you in the first place.
I wish people knew that a quarter of ME/CFS sufferers (including me) are mostly bedbound. Many more are too ill to use a wheelchair and must spend their time lying completely horizontal in darkness and silence to avoid further deterioration. And the most severe sufferers of all are tube-fed, incontinent, and completely unable to move or communicate. To this very day, in 2025, sufferers who have been unfortunate enough to become hospitalized are dying of starvation due to being refused feeding tubes by—you guessed it—doctors who dismiss them as hysterics.
Editor’s Note: DeBellis’ essay, “Oblivion,” depicts some of the author’s experiences with ME/CFS. Published by Pithead Chapel in June 2023, I highly recommend spending time with DeBellis in this gripping, revelatory work.
With All Our Tomorrows out in the world, what’s next for you and your writing? What does your “tomorrow” look like?
I recently completed my first fantasy novel, which got me my incredible agent, Aurora Fernandez at Trident Media Group. We’re planning to go on submission with it this fall. I’ve got a couple of novellas that I’m working on submitting to small publishers (novellas don’t really go on sub with Big 5 presses). I’m also putting the finishing touches on a speculative fiction novel, as well as drafting a new work that might be categorized as “horror-mance.”
Check out more work by Amy DeBellis (@amykatherrrrine / @amykdebellis) here.
Interview conducted by Court Ludwick.