Given that I thinkĀ āMy Immortalā is a troll (with the reason generally being that author Tara references both Marty McFly and TOM BOMBADIL), I just reread it and Iām astounded by the effort put into it.
The spelling and grammar gets steadily worse over the course of the story, messing up simple words and even the main characterās name (variations on Ebony include Enoby, Enony, Eboby, and my favorite Enopby). The author gives frequent shoutouts in the A/N at the beginning of each chapter to someone called Raven, who she considers a friend and apparently functions as a beta. In chapter 16, Tara severs ties with Raven, expels/murders Ravenās character Willow, and changes Ebonyās full name to Ebony Darkāness Dementia TARA Way. Itās suggested that they fought because Tara stole Ravenās poster of Gerard Way. By chapter 17, they appear to have made up and Willow is brought back with no further explanation.
The plot, of course, is just insane, but the story was obviously being read; Tara begins each chapter furiously ranting aboutĀ āflamerzā leaving bad reviews, terribly misspelled. At one point, Ebony was referred to as a Mary Sue and she immediately tried to shut that down, citingĀ āSatanismā andĀ ādepressionā as flaws. She held each new chapter hostage, demanding a certain number (usually 5) good reviews before she would update. Assuming the spelling and grammar mistakes were intentional, the natural progression of them getting worse and worse is incredible. The difference between Taraās A/Ns and Ravenās edited text is also astounding, although chapter 16, during their supposed rift, is not noticeably more poorly written than the chapters immediately preceding and following it.
The misspellings of character names and general slipups get worse and worse to the point that once,Ā āEnopbyā is referred to asĀ āTaraā, and at another point,Ā āTaEnbyā, further to emphasize that Ebony is, in fact, the most obvious self insert in the history of literature. The reference to Marty McFly (he appears at the end of chapter 35 to spirit Ebony into the future) confounds me; Tara does not seem like sheād been aware of pop culture enough to have seen āBack to the Futureā, given that she describesĀ āThe Nightmare Before Christmasā as this serious, depressing, Adult movie. Sheās young enough to considerĀ āhe put his thingy into my toolā an accurate description of sex. Further, she references Tom Bombadil, a character inĀ āLord of the Ringsā who I believe just shows up and sings for a while and is strongly implied to be God and then disappears, not really relevant to anything. Heās not even in the movies. Would Tara Gilesbie have readĀ āLord of the Ringsā when she admits sheās never read the Harry Potter books?
Read through that lens (that this was an elaborate hoax), can you believe the rest of it was so organically terrible? Even now, 10+ years after the fact, no one can agree on whether this story is a troll, and until anyone finds out who Tara Gilesbie really is, itās going to be impossible to know for sure. This is just crazy to me.
I have done extensive digging on this subject, and there is a lot more to My ImmortalĀ than meets the eye. Read as a troll, this story is a brilliant piece of satire on fan fiction. It incorporates so many cliches of the genre, especially those from the early to mid 2000ā²s. The obviously self-inserted Mary-Sue (mentioned above) along with unnecessary and unexplained crossovers, nonsensical sex scenes, and allusion to scene culture and pop punk music. Not to mention the story outside the story, Tara and Ravenās falling out, critiquing the culture of A/Nās and reviews. The tropes and cliches are far too obvious and overplayed to be sincere. I am a true believer that Tara was not only a troll, but a genius of satire. After all, if it was truly so bad, it would not have survived mixed in with ten years of equally terrible fan fiction. The legend of this story is so *ehem* immortal it has sparked heated debate in the online community for years, and was even made into a web series. (https://vimeo.com/70381882) Whether you believe it was satire or not, there is something about My Immortal that is inherently fascinating. Even if it was not her intention, Tara has created the bad fan fiction. It is a perfect storm of chaotic, nonsensical drama spiraling around the least original character ever written. Story lines are dropped and picked up again seemingly at random, characters and names are inconsistent to the point of being unintelligible, and there is no consistent overarching plot. In a sense, it is the anti-story, because it so decidedly defies every literary rule in the book. Either we are drawn to My ImmortalĀ as one watches a car wreck in awe, or because it satirizes the worst aspects of every story we have ever read. Regardless, the legacy of My ImmortalĀ will live on, either as a warning, or a work of pure genius.
What it was, what itāll be, what future can I get home after schoolĀ .
People keep asking me about Tara, people pretending to be her and whether she was a troll or not, most of the time I like to think of her as a myth who disappeared from the internet after the last chapter was published. But SOMEONE wrote it and whoever they are, I wonder if they know how notorious the story became. On the topic of whether it is satire or not I always said it looked too earnest to be satire because good satire authors are usually more organized. It's entirely possible that she saw Back To The Future as a kid and remembered Marty McFly because a LOT of people have seen that movie without necessarily being very into pop culture. Same for Tom Bombadil, she looked like she had some form of dyslexia and could have seen the name somewhere, got confused with Tom Riddle like she mixed up Cedric Diggory and Hagrid.
No one will ever know the true nature of My Immortal because unless a Tara Gilesbie shows up with a real ID and everything there's no way to know for sure.
