Given that I think âMy Immortalâ is a troll (with the reason generally being that author Tara references both Marty McFly and TOM BOMBADIL), I just reread it and Iâm 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 characterâs 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 Ravenâs character Willow, and changes Ebonyâs full name to Ebony Darkâness Dementia TARA Way. Itâs suggested that they fought because Tara stole Ravenâs 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 about âflamerzâ leaving bad reviews, terribly misspelled. At one point, Ebony was referred to as a Mary Sue and she immediately tried to shut that down, citing âSatanismâ and âdepressionâ 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 Taraâs A/Ns and Ravenâs 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, âEnopbyâ is referred to as âTaraâ, and at another point, âTaEnbyâ, 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 sheâd been aware of pop culture enough to have seen âBack to the Futureâ, given that she describes âThe Nightmare Before Christmasâ as this serious, depressing, Adult movie. Sheâs young enough to consider âhe put his thingy into my toolâ an accurate description of sex. Further, she references Tom Bombadil, a character in âLord of the Ringsâ 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. Heâs not even in the movies. Would Tara Gilesbie have read âLord of the Ringsâ when she admits sheâs 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, itâs going to be impossible to know for sure. This is just crazy to me.