Books, and their "value"

As many other internet go-ers, I stumbled over the concept of buying things over the internet.

As I was looking around, I noticed how the values of a book is graded. When you buy a book from a store you usually pay around 7 British pounds for it, or 100 Swedish crowns. After that book has been read once, if it is a pocket-book, it will re-retail for around 3 British pounds.

Isn't that crazy? We pay so much for a new book, and after one read, it is barely worth anything.

And even though it might sound a bit weird, I get a bit emotionally attached to all my books. Recently I decided to sell my Hunger Games trilogy through the Swedish Ebay "Tradera" against better judgement.

I thought it wouldn't be so bad, since I did not enjoy the series particularly much. But when it came down to it, I do not want to send them off! I read them, cried over the protagonists, and hated the antagonists. Now someone else will put them in their bookshelf. The only comfort is that the series had clashing colored covers and did not fit in well with the rest.

All that is left is to package them, and then ship them away...


So I ask you, dear reader; how do we value books? It is not so much about their story after the first read. We hand them off to a new pair of hands to grasp them, and cling to the pages, ripping their hair out over the plot twists, just like you did the first time you read that exact, same passage.

How do we know they do not just become a pretty addition on someone else's bookshelf?

And why do we care?

By Yours Truly,
ETBlogsHome 2013-12-07

Okay, so I lied!

I didn't update as planned, but who ever does? I did however spend a lot of time thinking about my novel. It's such a long way until November, but still it's just around the corner and there is so much to do! Let's make a NaNoWriMo check list of what needs to be done (okay I just really want a good reason to postpone actually developing the idea at this point because usually that's where things get messy, untidy, and unclear)

Things a novel need:

- A title. A strong, poetic, special, non-cliché title. This does not necessarily need to be in place as writing begins.

- A setting. Work with geographical, historical and social. You can be ambiguous about one of three when writing, but choose wisely otherwise you'll end up being the bed-headboard-book-equalizer because you so uneven in yo language not even IKEA could assemble you straight.

- A main character. Or many, I mean let's be honest, isn't dual-narratives becoming a real thing lately? But be careful, or you might end up with half-naked characters (figuratively speaking).

- A plot. At least something that remotely resembles it. There are different types of novels, character based, plot based or setting based. (I made the last one up completely, it sounds awful, but the idea is there nevertheless) What did you start out with? It will be obvious to the reader what was there first; plot, character or setting.


Things I need:

- Lists. Of everything that could/would/should/might/will happen.

- A cover. I want to imagine the world and DO I wish I could draw. I have the hand-eye coordination of a one-winged seagull. Of course, they don't have hands at all... Poor things.

- Caffeine. Coffee is fine. Red Bull is better.


And what of this do I have as of this moment? Nada. Like literally nothing. I mean literally, as in there is so little substantial material written down right now we might as well not. Fret not. The day will come when ideas start coming to me again. Until then, I will blog selflessly in denial of the passing of time.

By Yours Truly,
ETBlogsHome 2013-10-06

What I know and don't know

A couple of years back I was like any other teenager. I wanted to get a DSLR camera, and so I did (after much saving). I got it when I was 13, and since then... Well, let's just say that it hasn't been used much. I am a sucker for new challenges. However, if things get too hard, or there are no answers, I bore easily. Take this example of one of my first photos:

It is washed out, and bland, but I was so happy I understood lens flare! (This is also a good example of how opportunity meets luck)

However I progressed, and learnt that even though nature photos are "nice", I wanted "fun". And to me, fun means straight out life caught on camera! This is an example photo taken a while after winter passed.

An that is what colour coordination looks like. This was in aperture priority mode (AV on my PENTAX), 5.6 F, shutter speed 1/400 sek and an ISO of 200, no zoom, no flash. The light is actually coming from behind Mollie, but thanks to the low ISO, light envelops her even with a relatively normal shutter speed.

Here is another example;

This photo was also taken in aperture priority mode, 4 F, shutter speed 1/40 sek and ISO 1600, with a 18-55 standard kit lens, zoomed all the way in. The high ISO allows for bad lighting, but a high shutter speed as well. The aperture is relatively low, giving a very blurred background, and its manually locked to focus on a very small spot  around eleven o'clock.

This picture on the other hand;

is taken with ISO 400, 8 F, and shutter speed 1/125 sek. It's also worth to mention it's taken with a 55-300 kit lens. The "higher" aperture allows for the black to be blacker. The low ISO makes sure the colours don't get washed out. Shutter speed is balanced to show contrast and definition to the details of the birds and trees. SO. Balance huh? Can't be that hard! 

Everyone loves to see "Don't do this things". Here you go:

The lens is all wrong! This is the 18-55 lens. It is paired with a high ISO of 180, and a too low aperture of 6,3. It was taken in full manual mode, all zoomed out and no flash. Below is comparatively an image taken under the right circumstances:

This was taken with the 55-300 lens, zoomed out, without flash. The ISO is lowered to 800, and the aperture is 5,6. It was take on my cameras "Portrait mode" which means all I change is the ISO, and this is done on feel and trial and error.

This is an example of placement and alignment. The settings are identical. ISO 800, F 5,6, shutter speed 1/2 sek taken at 42 mm zoom with the kit lens. Many times you dont need to photoshop things like this, but to make them more attractive you could tilt them, or add a black and white filter, which is the cheepest editing trick you can do, but it works!

Well that last one might be over done to prove a point, but see what a little shuffling and black and white can do? Here are some examples of over worked photos:

I think that's all for today!