What inspired you to write We Run Tomorrow?
It’s never really one single thing that inspires my novels. It’s more like building blocks that I collect along the way and then end up linking together to make a story. But I think one of the first things I had in my head was the line ‘We are going to do what any real mates would do – kidnap our best friend’. I don’t even know where it came from, it just popped into my head and stuck there. I was also a VERY big fan of Stand By Me and wanted to write a travelling adventure with incredible friendships. And then another building block was meeting Mike Barry on the CBCA Maurice Saxby Creative Development Program. He reminded me how much I loved comics and graphic novels as a kid. I also desperately wanted to run away to Hollywood when I was a kid and become a child movie star. So those little pieces, those building blocks, all started to come together as the foundation for what is now We Run Tomorrow.
Which character do you relate the most to, and why?
I think Sticks has a little bit of my soul. Almost always my main characters have a little bit of me in them. Of course, there is a whole lot of ‘made up’ as well, but I always need to start from a place of truth and build from there. Sticks is very different in a lot of ways but still very connected to me and who I am. Ferocious independence and do-or-die loyalty to our friends are traits we share.
What was the best thing about working with a graphic novelist to bring We Run Tomorrow to life?
It’s my first collaboration in a book and just having someone else to bounce ideas off and work with to bring the book to the next level was such an amazing experience. Working with Mike Barry was an absolute dream and he was so heavily invested in the book’s success. It isn’t my book with his illustrations. This is OUR book, 100%! He brought so, so much to the story and the final product wouldn’t be what it is without him. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to work with someone so talented and creatively generous. Also touring together has been SO MUCH FUN!
Why do you think illustrated novels are so popular right now?
I think they always have been, they are just starting to be more recognised and maybe more mainstream. Visual mediums are an always-popular art form and visual literacy at all ages is so important. I think we are starting to understand that kids don’t need to ‘move on’ from visual literacy once they ‘age out of picture books’. Rather than increasing in popularity, I think the traditional publishing industry is maybe starting to recognise that graphic novels don’t have to be separate. Graphic novels are books, and we (and kids) want to see them in bookshops and libraries, not just at speciality stores.
If you could have any of The Screen Savers superpowers, which would you choose and why?
Oooohhhh, this is so hard. I intentionally gave them all the most awesome powers. But if I HAD to choose, I would probably go with HiSpeed and the ability to download any skill. I would love to be able to speak every language in the world and play any musical instrument. Not to mention do ALL the martial arts, dance like Timberlake, juggle knives and yodel while playing the lute…not too much to ask right?
Buy a copy of We Run Tomorrow here.
Nat Amoore is a Sydney-based children’s author and kidlit podcast host of One More Page. Her debut novel, Secrets of a Schoolyard Millionaire, came out in 2019 and has had great success as both Dymocks and QBD’s ‘Kids Book Of The Month’, becoming Australia’s #1 bestselling debut Aussie children’s fiction in 2019. It has now sold into the UK, US, Italy, China, Estonia and Romania. Her second book, The Power of Positive Pranking, released in 2020, was shortlisted for the 2021 Readings Children’s Book Prize and REAL Children’s Choice Book Awards, and won the Environment Award for Children’s Literature. Rounding out Nat’s trilogy about the kids of Watterson Primary, The Right Way to Rock was released in June 2021. In 2021, Nat wrote a 5-part fiction podcast series called Project ARI for Nova Entertainment and the Australian Government as part of the #StopItAtTheStart campaign. Project Ari has been nominated in two categories at the Australian Podcast Awards. Coming in 2022 is We Run Tomorrow, written by Nat and featuring graphic novel-style illustrations from Australian illustrator Mike Barry.
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