This is a slightly technical post but it’s close to my heart as it answers a question I often hear. Longtime readers of this blog will know that, since 2016, I have been posting all of my content simultaneously on both my main website, nicholasrossis.me, and my WordPress blog, nicholasrossis.wordpress.com (for the reasons which led me to this decision, see here).

This has led me to trouble in the past with some of my guest posters, who dislike the idea that their posts are duplicated on both places at once. The reason is that old SEO boogeyman, duplicate content.

The topic is full of anecdotes, myths, urban legends, and folklore passed down from marketer to marketer over the years. And like any story or tale, it gets taller and more exaggerated as it’s told.

“Google will lower your rank if you post content already published elsewhere,” some say.

Anne Goodwin does not run a writing prompt challenge from her blog but her prolific and thoughtful book reviews do challenge her readers to think and to think about what books they might like to read next.

What part of the world do you live in and what should the rest of the world know about your place?

I live in a small town in near enough smack in the centre of England, not far from the birthplace of DH Lawrence and the supposed setting for Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

I’m a forty-minute drive from the Peak District National Park, and drew on one of my favourite walks for a scene of parent-child tension in my debut novel, Sugar and Snails. Nottingham is my nearest city and the main setting for second novel, Underneath. The region’s history of coal mining, and the legacy of the pit closures of…

Staci Troilo is one of my closest author friends. She’s got something new for all of us under her pen-name of D. L. Cross. Let’s make her feel welcome and share this around today.

“No Idea” Excerpt from New Sci-Fi Novel: THE GATE

Thanks for inviting me here today. I’m excited to share an excerpt from The Gate, Book 1 of the Astral Conspiracy series in the Invasion Universe. 

Excerpt:

“You do realize I’ve never done this before. I have no idea what’ll happen up there.”

“You better hope it’s what I want to happen. Or you won’t be coming back down.”

Landon gulped, no longer certain he’d made the right choice to stay on Lorena’s behalf. So far, the mercs had been more or less gentlemanly toward her. She’d probably walk out of this ordeal alive. 

The same couldn’t be said about him.

They followed a path…

Ciao, amici. We’ve been discussing the story bible. So far, we have the overview and the series premise. Today, we’re going to cover character sheets.

There are a few things you absolutely need to keep consistent when you create a character. Appearance, age, and the character arc. Filling out this simple form will give you an easy, at-a-glance reference that helps you keep all these things straight. (If you’re interested in this specific form, click on the graphic to download it to use as-is or manipulate for your own needs.)

The first column is simply the characters’ names. Make sure you write first and last. This will keep you from changing the spelling or the last name (which isn’t mentioned frequently) later in the story. Once you have a row for each main character, color code them so they are easy to distinguish. And if you write in Scrivener…