For my research essay I intend to determine that fiction books that use characters or settings from books written by different authors can be considered fanfiction. People read news articles, and their ideas and opinions are influenced by them as a result. Books are no different in this regard. In this essay “fanfiction” will be defined as a work of literature that makes use of characters and/or settings from previous works of literature and changes them to fit a new story while keeping their essence of them as recognizable. That said adaptations are not fanfiction despite using characters and settings from previous works of literature because they are the same stories as the originals just reworded or translated for a different audience.
The books that I am going to be analyzing as evidence is the “Percy Jackson and The Olympians” series. This series uses characters and settings from Greek mythology and puts them into a modern world setting. Throughout the series, the main character Percy Jackson has run ins with the gods and other characters from Greek mythology who at times provide tools and information to aid him, threaten to kill or curse him, or attempt to kill him. It is Percy Jackson and his fellow demigods’ presence as original characters and it being set in the modern world along with the characters and settings from Greek mythology that makes this series fanfiction.
Background: The article is about the religion of ancient Greece in reference to Homer’s works.
How I intend to use it: This will help me better understand the source material that is being used in the “Percy Jackson and The Olympians” series.
“RE-DISCOVERING MYTHOLOGY: ADAPTATION AND APPROPRIATION IN THE PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS SAGA”
Background: This article contains information about how Greek mythology was adapted into the series.
How I intend to use it: I intend to use it to help me identify how much was taken from the original source unaltered vs changed to fit the story that has been written.
Background: This book is a translation of Homer’s “The Odyssey”, a poem about Odysseus and his journey to return home after the Trojan War.
How I intend to use it: This is a source from the time of ancient Greece whose contents can be analyzed and compared to the “Percy Jackson and The Olympians” series in the research essay. Quotes from it can be compared to quotes from the series for similarities between them.
“A Companion to Greek Religion”
Background: This book is about all the different parts of the religion of ancient Greece throughout its existence.
How I intend to use it: I intend to use the sections about the ancient Greek gods and how feature in ancient Greek literature to help me better understand the characters from the source material that is being used in the “Percy Jackson and The Olympians” series, which will aid me in my analyzation.
“Percy Jackson and The Olympians” series
Background: These 5 books are about a kid in the modern world who discovers that the Greek gods are real and that he is a demigod, before proceeding to go on a series of quests to save the world. In the first book, “The Lighting Thief”, he is introduced to this world, the camp where the demigods are trained, and sets off on a quest to find the master bolt and return it to Zeus by the summer solstice. In the second book, “The Sea of Monsters”, he and his friends go on a quest to retrieve the golden fleece to save the camp. In the third book, “The Titan’s Curse”, he and his friends go on a quest to save the goddess Artemis by the winter solstice. In the fourth book, “The Battle of the Labyrinth”, he and his friends discover a secret passage into the camp that bypasses its defenses, leading to them going on a quest to find Daedalus in an attempt prevent the Titians and their forces from using the Labyrinth to destroy the camp. In the final book, “The Last Olympian”, he leads his fellow demigods in a final battle to save Olympus from the Titians.
How I intend to use it: These are the books I am going to be analyzing in the research essay to determine if they are fanfiction.
Counterintuitive Fall 2024 
I want to try a little thought experiment with you here, RoboFrog, to illustrate why I have a problem properly understanding your premise, which I find intriguing and worthy of pursuing but unclear.
Groucho is fascinated with the emperor Nero and studies every text he can find before finally compiling his multi-volume biography of “the Roman who fiddled while Rome burned.”
Chico is equally interested in Nero and has been pulling together anecdotes about him, including obscure poems that seem to be historical plus pictorial representations of the emperor, some commissioned, some satirical, some from coins he minted. Chico’s biography of Nero covers much of the same material Groucho’s does, but is more inclined to an artistic interpretation of the emperor’s influence than his politics.
Harpo had never heard of Nero before he read Chico’s book, but he was smitten by the character he first approached through art. Wanting to contribute to the world of Nero literature, he first studied the several volumes of Groucho’s work and nothing else before he published what he calls his “definitive biography.” Harpo’s entire knowledge of Nero depends on his two predecessors.
Can you say that any of these three books is not “original art”? Does one or more of them amount to “fanfiction”? If those are difficult questions, you’ll understand my confusion. If the answer is too easy, you might not have to do any research to make your case. If the answer is possible but complicated, I hope you will explain to me how to understand your angle.
I believe I have cleared up what I am pursuing. Also, I added more details to the last two sources
Thank you for involving me in the process, RoboFrog. I’m pleased to see that your Definition of Fanfiction is evolving to something more demonstrable. I like also that the focus will now be on whether the essential character of the “characters” remains intact though their circumstances and settings change. That seems a powerful improvement.
What I can’t tell from your descriptions so far—it’s odd that I don’t have a clue yet—is the degree to which, for example, Zeus appears AS A NAMED CHARACTER in the Percy Jackson books, which are, after all, called “Percy Jackson AND THE OLYMPIANS.” You suggest that the kid, a demigod, interacts with the pantheon of known and named Greek gods, but your assertion could be much clearer.
Let me be clearer about another aspect of your theory. If, for example, a publisher like Golden Books comes out with a volume of myths for kids and alters the storylines enough to render them palatable for young readers, THAT would not be fanfiction, right? So . . . is it the introduction of the new character, Percy Jackson, as the prime character set against the background of the gods as secondary characters to Percy’s narrative arc that qualifies the PJ books as fanfiction?
Another question. Would a narrative entirely about the Greek gods with a novel plot that maintained the essential characters of the gods but in a radically different setting be fanfiction? Say, to cite a wild example, the gods are banished to earth and live their lives with much-reduced powers as residents of an average American suburb. They can light their barbecues without matches, maybe, or lift surprisingly large objects but not a car. Would that be fanfiction, satire, fair use, what?
Looking over your Companion to Greek Religion source I was most intrigued by the chapter that starts on page 373. What stood out to me as essential aspects of the odd relationship between the Greeks and their gods are the ways in which the authors of the myths defy reasonable expectations of what we think gods should be (such as inherently just, fair, reliable). For example:
I’ll be curious to see if in the PJ books the author stays true to the unreliability of divine justice, which seems to be cited by the Greeks as an explanation only when it suits the interpretation of the interpreter.
Proceed. Invite me back whenever you need another dose of interference.
I don’t generally grade Proposals+5, RoboFrog, since they’re SUCH a work-in-progress at all times, but while this was a good start two weeks ago, by now the Background and “How I’ll Use It” sections should contain much more material and test language for your short arguments. I don’t sense you’re using this post to take Notes while you’re consulting your sources. That would help it grade higher, but it may not suit your particular process needs.
Graded. Mostly irrelevant but upgradeable at any time. Will receive its own grade when it moves into your Portfolio as your Annotated Bibliography. Be building toward that.