We Love… Emma Scott

Boy do I have a surprise for you!! For readers who are dying for an epic story, with BIG tears but LOTS of feels and love, Emma Scott is the author to top your book list. I have recently discovered her, but every book was amazing and packed with so many emotions, instantly making me a fan, wanting for more. She is very diverse in her stories and characters, making her a very chameleonic author that amazes you constantly. She agreed to answer some of my questions and I really hope you will like the final result. If you are not familiar with her books, please do, because you will LOVE every page.

Ramona: Please tell us something about yourself, so that the readers can get to know you better? 

Emma: I pretty much wear my heart on my sleeve. I cry instantly if I see or read something heart-warming and I’m constantly talking to my readers, usually through my group, Emma’s Entourage about what is happening in my life that is (usually) book related. My group of readers feels like family, which is nice. I feel like I can be myself there instead of having to put on a marketing persona. I have no marketing persona (unless oversharing and being emotional counts, LOL). 

Ramona: What was your first experience with writing that really inflicted this passion for being a full time author?

Emma: I won a writing contest in which I was instructed to use “romance” as a genre. I expanded the short story into a full novel (Love Beyond Words) and my love for doing that as a career was born. I’d been writing since I was a kid, but mostly fantasy. I assumed I’d strictly be a fantasy writer, but even my fantasy stories always had a central romance plot, and so it was an easy transition to making the love story the actual focus of my work.

Ramona: Name your dream collaboration.

Emma: Oh jeez, that’s tough. I think Kennedy Ryan and I would write well together. We call each other #TeamHeavy since our novels tend to focus on heavier themes or topics, lol Mia Sheridan would be a dream, or Katy Regnery as I feel we have a lot of the same writerly sensibilities. But even just putting that in writing here, I don’t want to pressure or imply anything. I think if it happens with anyone, it will be a special project that needed both our voices, (whomever the co-author was) and so it will present itself in time, without any pushing by me, if that makes sense.

Ramona: In my mind, you are associated with diversity, because no book of yours is alike. How do you get the inspiration of always coming up with something completely different?

Emma: I try to never write the same book twice, although some elements inevitably show up in more than one book. Some themes that I hold to. But usually I start with a premise. Not a plot, just a premise. Let’s take my latest,  In Harmony…what if the Hero and heroine were both cast in Hamlet? I start with that, then immediately build the characters off of each other. Meaning, their flaws and strengths are corollaries. If the heroine needs this, the Hero provides it for her.  If the Hero is lacking this, the Heroine gives it to him…etc. They each have a “hole in the soul” that the other provides, though they don’t “fix” each other. They just provide everything that the other needs. For instance, in In Harmony, my heroine, Willow, needed to NOT feel pressured by the man in her life for any reason. Isaac, the hero, therefore was unassuming and gentle; he never pressured her, but let her tell her story in her own time. On the flipside, Isaac was always being judged by his poverty, his past, his alcoholic father…and needed someone to see him for who he was. Willow provided that. So they don’t magically fix each other, they just give each other the space or confidence to be who they truly are. And once they can be who they truly are, they can fall in love. That is how I build every couple, and to ensure they’re all different, I try to make sure that what each characters NEEDS is never the same from book to book.

Ramona: How do you handle bad reviews? Do you read them and try to get the best out of it, or just leave them aside?

Emma: I don’t read them until the book has been out for at least two weeks. Publishing a book is like ripping off a piece of your heart and throwing it out into the world. You’re very raw in those first weeks, or at least I am. Good reviews or bad, they impact hard, so I don’t read anything negative until that initial period is over. Then if I read them, I can take them more objectively and it’s not as painful, but can be instructional.

Ramona: Which of your books do you want to see be turned into a movie?

Emma: I think The Butterfly Project would be cool as a clever filmmaker could use the graphic novel that Zelda, the heroine has drawn (and you see some of her actual panels in the book) and show that too. But the Full Tilt Duet, RUSH or In Harmony might make pretty cool films too. Hey, I won’t be picky. Lol

Ramona: You always give your characters a HEA. Could you please name yours?

Emma: My HEA? As in my own? I’m sort of already living it. I married my soulmate, we have two amazing daughters, and I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing as a career. My eldest daughter has some health issues, so my ultimate HEA is her never being negatively impacted and watching both my girls live fulfilling happy lives.

Ramona: My favorite from your books is the „Full Tilt” series and I want to ask you about the relationship between Theo and Kacey. From my POV it was a very courageous twist you put into the series, considering Kacey’s strong relationship with Jonah, Theo’s brother, in the past. Personally, I loved and admired this idea and was 100% on board with second chances in this scenario. My question is, from the reviews you received, how did the readers react to this? Were they judgmental or fine with your idea?

 !!!SPOILERS!!!

Emma:  Omg All In nearly killed me since i was so scared of exactly that. That readers would HATE Kacey for moving on, or that I would somehow disrespect the memory of Jonah. But the entire point of the duet was All In. I ALWAYS intended for Kacey to end up with Theo. Aside from the hints in Full Tilt, I had her describe her ideal man—her soulmate– early on in Full Tilt and it was Teddy, not Jonah. I wrote the prologue to All In before I wrote one word of Full Tilt. So my intention was never, ever going to change. The point was to show that you can love someone with all your heart and be true to them, and then love someone else just as hard, because humans’ capacity to love is infinite. It has no boundaries. But to make that work, I knew I would need to keep Jonah’s memory vibrant in All In. I was not about to let him be forgotten or brushed off. He is a character in All In, and both Teddy and Kacey never forget that. Their love is born out of Jonah, and so I worked really hard to ensure readers felt that. And I’m so grateful that 99% of them have. I’ve heard so many times that FT broke their hearts but All In put it back together, and they were so happy for Theo and Kacey, so to me that means I accomplished what I set out to do.

Ramona: Which book is 100% Emma Scott from cover to blurb?

Emma: All of them. I keep thinking “THIS is the book that shows what I’m really trying to say” but then I realized that ALL of my books are me telling the world what I think about love and its power to heal, to forgive, and that it is infinite and always wins.

Ramona: I know it is hard to choose, but which is your favorite couple from your books?

Emma: OMG so impossible! Every time I think about one couple as my favorite, another pops up. I guess, for now, if I had to chose Darlene and Sawyer from Forever Right Now. They are just so darn cute together, and I love them both. 

Ramona: What is your relationship with your readers? Could you please send them a message?

Emma: My readers are LIFE and I tell them this as often as I can. Without them, I have no career, and the best part of the business of writing is that I doesn’t feel like a business. I mean, yes, I have to market and sell books, etc, but I don’t know what other business there is where my “customers” are more like friends. It’s incredible. My message to them is always the same; I love you and thank you.

 

 

For more on Emma, you can read about her in the links below:

 Official Site: emmascott.net

 Goodreads Profile: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10405165.Emma_Scott