Joynell Schultz

A Choose Your Own Adventure Short Story Author Note: I grew up absolutely obsessed with those old Choose Your Own Adventure books. The fantasy ones. The sci-fi ones. The weird ones where you somehow died because you opened the wrong door on page 42. I had stacks of them scattered around my room as a kid, with folded page corners marking all the endings I hadn’t survived yet. Honestly, they…

I just put a sci-fi romantic suspense novella up for pre-order. Which is wild, because I haven’t written this genre since 2016, when I released my first novel and absolutely no one read it. To be fair, it was about clones. Apparently people don’t want to read about clones. Who knew? Anyway. I wanted to walk you through how a tiny, half-formed idea becomes a story with a mind of its own —…

Welcome. I write clean(ish) paranormal romance, cozy mysteries, urban fantasy, and sci-fi — which sounds like a lot, but I promise there’s a through-line. My books tend to be funny, fast, and just a little chaotic. The heroines make questionable decisions. The love interests are usually either infuriating or technically undead. Sometimes both. If you’re not sure where to start, I’ve got you.…

I have a book publishing in three weeks and my brain has decided this is an excellent time to question every decision I’ve made since approximately 2017. It’s about a horse. Which feels dramatic considering the book is, fundamentally, about a runaway princess who burns her mother’s notes, a half-fae thief with selectively applied principles, and a horse who has very strong opinions and…

You know that moment. Two characters. One problem. And suddenly — there’s only one horse. Not ideal. Not comfortable. Definitely not emotionally safe. The one-horse trope is a staple of romantasy for the same reason the one-bed trope is: it forces two people into unavoidable closeness before either of them is ready for it. But unlike the one-bed situation, which at least comes with blankets…

Let’s get something straight. Nobody plans to become a villain. That’s not how it starts. One minute you’re minding your business, drinking wine with your friends, trying to survive life like a normal, emotionally stable adult… And the next? You’re sitting in a booth at your favorite wine bar with four women who absolutely should not be trusted with powers, building a revenge plan, debating…

Author’s Note: I’ve always been drawn to the characters who stand at the edge of things — the ones watching the party from the tree line, the ones who show up to do a necessary job and then stay a little longer than they should. Probably because that’s me, too. Aron has been one of those characters since the moment he appeared in the Angels of Sojourn world. He’s the Angel of Death, and somehow…

Ever wonder what goes on in an author’s search history? Fair warning before we get into it: I don’t google things during my first draft. That version looks something like: [Insert Elephant Weight Here]. If I stopped to research every detail mid-scene, I’d never finish the book. Which is probably why my editing takes forever. Anyway. Here’s the list. (This is specifically for “Mayhem: A Girl’s…

I’ve spent a concerning amount of time thinking about how the world ends. Different methods. Different timelines. Different levels of drama. Sometimes it’s a cooling sun.Sometimes it’s a virus.Sometimes it’s aliens.Sometimes it’s five women with superpowers and a revenge agenda who accidentally take out a city block. (That last one is technically not a global apocalypse, but if you live on…

Here's a fun take on Valentine's day, showing that love isn't always as picture-perfect as a greeting card. If you love grumpy-sunshine banter mixed with some magic, I'd love for you to check out this short story! "The Love Potion Debacle" (Best of all, it's a quick and FREE read!)

Author Note: This story was inspired by the wonderfully over-the-top nature of Valentine’s Day—because let’s be honest, love isn’t always as picture-perfect as a greeting card. I wanted to mix a little romance, a little rivalry, and a whole lot of magical mayhem into a lighthearted, cozy fantasy. If you love grumpy-sunshine banter, mischievous familiars, and a dash of enemies-to-lovers tension,…

A short little piece of flash fiction, inspired by a pre-cruise meet-up last night. I hope you enjoy! Can upgrades change who you really are? When two ex-lovers meet again - now more machine than human - they discover what truly lies beyond the circuits

Author Note: This story sparked to life during a fun, pre-adventure get-together with some fellow cruisers. We’d gathered to bond a little before a big trans-Atlantic sailing and the conversation took a turn—everyone started swapping tales of knee replacements, titanium hips, and every kind of bionic upgrade you could imagine! Each scar had its own adventure, each titanium joint a badge of…

Trying something new: Check out my blog for a little short story that any married couple can relate too, even if your spouse isn't out saving the galaxy. For readers & lovers of: Superhero romance Romantic comedy Cosmic adventures Marriage

As an author who loves blending speculative fiction plots with sweet romance, I’m always on the lookout for resources that can help streamline my outlining and story development process. I think I’ve used almost every tool under the sun to make outlining a novel easy, and have found this “24 Chapter Novel Outline” format my favorite, by far, for a more detailed guideline. (Scroll down for a quick…

Chapter 3 has become another nightmare of using Artificial Intelligence to generate a novel! Can I piece a story together from the content produced by AI? Let's see... #writingwithai #amwriting #aiwriting #chatgpt

Here we go again! Let’s write Chapter 3 of Synthetic Sweetheart together, with the help of AI. To recap: Chapter 1 was a mess. Chapter 2 was better because I was more specific with giving AI prompts. So…let’s see how Chapter 3 goes as the story of EVE and David gets more complicated. First, the outline I had of chapter 3 was a little generic, so I’m asking the AI to add more details. My…

Writing chapter 1 of a Novel with AI turned out to be a mess. Can we improve the process for chapter 2 of "Synthetic Sweetheart"? #amwriting #writingwithai

In my last blog post, we wrote Chapter 1 of “Synthetic Sweetheart” using artificial intelligence (AI) technology, and oh man, I had a mess. How naïve I had been! I thought I’d just input some prompts, hit enter, and whola! Chapter 1 of a novel, completely generated by AI. Writing this book using AI technology is presenting some unique challenges. In this post, we’ll write chapter 2 while…

I'm using Artificial Intelligence to write the entire first chapter of a novel. Is AI capable of such a task? Or is it better left to the writer's intuition and imagination create the story? #amwriting #writingwithai #aitechnology #chaptgpt

Oh boy! Here we go. We’ve covered a range of topics in our journey exploring the writing process with Artificial Intelligence. In this post, we’ll examine using AI technology for writing the first chapter of a novel. Writing the first chapter is a significant step in the process of creating a novel, and AI technology can provide options and suggestions to aid in this task. From generating…