PHOTO: Ginger Scott, bestselling author and fierce advocate for mental health, brings compassion, authenticity and strength to every story she tells.
Young Adult Romance With Depth And Heart
Bestselling author Ginger Scott shares her passion for writing emotionally driven stories, weaving personal experience, small-town settings, and powerful themes of healing, identity, and love into unforgettable character journeys.
Ginger Scott writes with a tenderness that feels both familiar and fearless, carving emotional depth into the heart of young and new adult romance. Her stories live in the liminal space between heartbreak and healing, often set against the hum of small-town life or the thrill of a sports arena. With bestselling titles like This Is Falling, Wild Reckless, The Moon and Back, and The Tomboy and The Captain, she invites readers into intimate portraits of resilience, first love, and the quiet strength that grows through adversity.
Her writing pulses with authenticity, drawn in part from her background in journalism and her own life immersed in baseball and music. There’s a lived-in quality to her characters—their struggles, flaws, and triumphs feel wholly their own yet deeply relatable. Whether navigating the complexities of mental health or the bittersweet nostalgia of growing up, Ginger never shies away from emotional truth.
What sets her work apart is her gift for capturing the chaos and clarity of youth—the moments that break us and the ones that make us whole. Her heroines are unapologetically strong, her heroes disarmingly vulnerable, and her words quietly powerful. In every novel, she delivers more than just a love story—she offers a mirror.
What inspired you to explore themes of healing and second chances in This Is Falling?
I love writing stories that fall into the coming-of-age genre. That transition from high school to college comes with universal challenges, but our society has added layers of exceptional pressures on top of what is already a trying time. I wanted to write a story that not only everyone could identify with the characters’ feelings but also the difficult realities that we see in the world. The beauty of writing in the romance genre is the guarantee of a HEA (happily ever after). And what better what to showcase resilient youth than through falling in love with oneself again as well as the perfect partner.
How did your personal connection to baseball influence your portrayal of athletes in your books?
I grew up watching every sport possible. There are days when I was cleaning my room as a young kid with the PGA on in the background. But baseball has always been a favorite. My family loves the game. My dad taught me how to throw when I was young, and I played through high school. I think sports has a really interesting natural tension to it, but the dual of a pitcher and a hitter is one of the best. More than the logistics and action of the game, I try to infuse my books with the emotions that athletes feel.
The Moon and Back delves into music and fame—did you draw on any real-life musicians or experiences for Johnny’s character?
I was both an athlete and a band nerd in high school, so this book has a lot of my formative years woven into it. Johnny is an amalgamation of so many favorites, both personal and famous. It would be hard to pin him down to one inspiration, but I think if he went on tour, his concerts would sell out fast.
In Wild Reckless, Owen Harper is a complex character—how did you approach writing someone with such darkness and vulnerability?
I am a fierce advocate for mental health and removing the stigmas that come with it. I have experienced losing people to mental health crises, be it through substance abuse or suicide, and talking about it and addressing the hard realities of it takes away the shame. Owen Harper is the embodiment of what it is like to grow up in a family and a town that whispers about mental health. Of every book I’ve written, this one was the toughest to push myself through. But I am so proud of the raw, honest bones of the characters.
Many of your books feature strong female leads navigating emotional challenges. How do you develop their voices so authentically?
My mom is an incredibly strong woman. She’s shown me what it looks like to be brave in the face of doubters, to overcome fears, to roll up the sleeves and get a job done. A lot of the lessons learned in my books are things that my mom has passed on or helped me to navigate—from self-confidence to setting healthy boundaries. I think the key to making a character’s voice authentic is to not be afraid to dig down to the real stuff, which sometimes isn’t pretty. It’s vulnerable to have a character talk about their personality flaws, or to be called out for them. But it’s real. And the way they internalize things is real and identifiable. We all have a lot of noise in our heads, so painting characters that are sometimes as messed up as we are, as afraid as we are, or hurt or broken, is what makes them feel real.
Your stories often centre around small-town settings—what draws you to these environments?
I like making my setting a character on its own, if that makes sense. I want my readers to be able to close their eyes and know the smells and feel the chill or sun on their cheeks. I think all of that immerses a reader deeper into a story, and small or mid-towns have more quirks. For example, in my Waiting Series, and the Next Gen Waiting Series, the small-town Arizona setting is very much a part of the story. It’s the nucleus that connects the family members, the football team, the roots and the land. Everyone comes back to this one place because it’s where they were forged.
With your background in journalism, how has that shaped your fiction writing style and storytelling approach?
My journalism background has made my entire writing process richer and easier, in my opinion. Research and interviewing is a very natural part of my process, and I think it has helped me to paint accurate portrayals of people and places as well as their experiences.
What advice would you give to emerging authors who want to write emotionally driven, character-focused romance stories?
Leave the fear behind. If a work in progress feels like it’s missing something, not going deep enough, it’s probably because you are holding yourself back and writing what you think everyone wants or what is safe rather than what is real and difficult to express. Let your characters make the wrong choices. Rough them up. Don’t be afraid to make them bad people if that’s what the story needs. Those tiny turns that you weren’t expecting are where you get the best parts of your story.
