A.M. Belsey
Six Mile Store
Something Ugly’s Waitin’ For You
Honey’s working weekends down at the Six Mile, trying to figure her life out. Her boyfriend’s about to leave the country, her college advisor hates her guts, her momma ain’t listening, and she’s got this cop breathing down her neck just about all the time. She finds a friend in her new colleague Lisa, but when one of their regular customers turns up dead, everything goes sideways faster than a greased hog at the county fair…
The Writer’s Dossier 7/27/2026 – The A. M. Belsey interview
DOSSIER: As a freelance editor and developmental editor, what kind of writing style or other mistakes do you see right off the bat that the writer is going to need to change?
BELSEY: That is an interesting question, because I can usually tell from the first few paragraphs whether I am going to enjoy the rest of a submission, but articulating why that is the case is difficult! And that difficulty is compounded by the fact that much of what an editor likes or dislikes is entirely a matter of personal taste. One might love endless pages of beautiful description while the next wants propulsive forward motion. I think that most of us would say, no matter our taste in storytelling, that a work’s presentation is incredibly important. If an author submits a manuscript that is clearly unedited (many typos, consistently poor punctuation, bad formatting), they are essentially asking an editor for drafting assistance. It’s very difficult to get away with that kind of approach unless you are an established author who has worked with the same editor for a long time. For most authors, making sure they present their work in the best possible condition gives them the best shot at finding editors who share their storytelling preferences.
Three Advantages of Self-publishing
DOSSIER: Based on your relationships with major publishers, as well as your personal writing acumen, you must have a leg up on the competition when it comes to submitting your own work. How did it go with getting Six Mile Store out there into publication?
BELSEY: On the contrary, I did not even consider publishing Six Mile Store with any major publishers. My plan was always to publish it myself, though I debated whether or not to do it through my own press or in a separate, personal capacity. I did approach one other small-press publisher, solely because they ran a novella prize (and the prize involved being published by them). My novella didn’t win, so I went ahead with my original plan. Perhaps unusually for a publisher, I am a huge believer in self-publishing because it 1. gives authors full creative control, 2. allows them to be free to write what is in their heart (which may or may not be the same as writing to appease the whims of the market), and 3. allows them to write to their own schedules. There are many challenges involved in self-publishing, but what most people don’t realize is that there are also enormous challenges for traditionally published authors too. Corporate publishing is a cutthroat world that does not suit many authors, for many reasons. I could go on!
Paging Quentin Tarrantino
DOSSIER: A reader on Goodreads said that your new book made them feel like they were in a Tarantino film. Were you thinking the same when you wrote it or did that comment surprise you?
BELSEY: I thought it was surprising and funny! I hadn’t personally thought of it that way, but it’s got drugs, murder, corruption, quirky characters . . . so yeah, if Quentin would like to adapt it for the big screen, he is welcome to give me a call any time.
Going from Arkansas to London. WOW!
DOSSIER: You’re from Arkansas but you live in the UK where you can translate American English to English English. How did you find your transition from a place like Arkansas to London?
BELSEY: I have now been in the UK for nearly 30 years. Very early on I found that London was hectic, confusing, and culturally hugely different from rural, sleepy Arkansas. But after a few months it was home, and going back to Arkansas was what felt strange to me. Relatedly, I think it took me so long to write this book because I didn’t have enough distance from it until I was older and able to put life in the Arkansas environment into perspective. It’s set in the late 1990s, which saw the beginning of many political shifts that were necessary to create the climate we have now in the 2020s. Of course we did not know that at the time! But it’s useful to look back, with both geographical and temporal distance, to tell the story honestly.
The American South and the UK audience
DOSSIER: There must be some challenges writing about Arkansas to a UK audience. Are those Brits enjoying your Southern gothic, rural noir like you imagined or did you have to put some extra effort into it?
BELSEY: British people have been lovely about it! I feel like there is a fair amount of existing media that Brits are familiar with (Ozark, No Country for Old Men, True Grit, Winter’s Bone, etc) that they’re not totally at sea with what I’m writing about, though I don’t think they really understand that what I have written is true. Yes, it’s fiction, but nothing in the book is an exaggeration. Even my own husband can’t quite comprehend the things I tell him about what people in the American South do and believe. We are an unusual people!
The Last Word
DOSSIER: How are you coming along with the thriller you’re writing? Anything you learned from writing Six Mile Store that you’re using for your new book?
BELSEY: I have the shape of it fully mapped out (I’m a plotter, not a pantser). I think the crucial things that I have learned are twofold. First, don’t show your work to too many readers early on, and certainly not to people to whom you have an emotional connection. This mistake cost me literal years of my writing life, which I regret. Second, everyone always says just to get the words onto the page, and save the editing for after. I am sorry to say that those people are 100% correct. I am doing my best, though I can’t fully break the habit of a lifetime. The advice is right, though. Do as I say, not as I do.