My Immortal (fan fiction): Difference between revisions
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Writing for [[Vulture.com]], Abraham Riesman wrote that "[t]he mystery of the authorship of 'My Immortal' — even in this privacy-averse age — appears unsolvable."<ref name="Vulture" /> |
Writing for [[Vulture.com]], Abraham Riesman wrote that "[t]he mystery of the authorship of 'My Immortal' — even in this privacy-averse age — appears unsolvable."<ref name="Vulture" /> |
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=== 2017: |
=== 2017: Authorship Claim === |
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Rose Christo, who |
Theresa Christoduolopoulos (commonly known as Rose Christo), who has written many [[Young adult fiction|young adult novels]], began writing a memoir about what she claimed were her experiences as a [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] child in the New York [[Foster care in the United States|foster care system]]. The memoir details the period of time during which she allegedly wrote ''My Immortal''. Her memoirs were cancelled in October 2017 due to failing a routine fact check<ref>https://www.buzzfeed.com/jarrylee/the-my-immortal-book-is-no-longer-going-to-be-published?utm_term=.ycq11EW11#.gyKzz2Azz</ref>. |
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In March 2017, |
In March 2017, Christoduolopoulos quietly posted on her Tumblr account that she created ''My Immortal''; however, the post gained little notice. In early August 2017, Christoduolopoulos posted an update to a FictionPress account that she claimed belonged to Tara Gilesbie.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/9/13/16275802/who-wrote-my-immortal-tara-rose-christo|title=My Immortal: solving the mystery of the internet’s most beloved — and notorious — fanfic|last=Romano|first=Aja|date=September 13, 2017|website=|publisher=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=September 13, 2017}}</ref> |
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Later in August, an [[Self-publishing|independently published]] ''Handbook for Mortals'' reached the top of the young adult [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''New York Times'' Best Seller list]]. Writing similarities between the novel and ''My Immortal'' led to speculation that ''Handbook for Mortals'' author Lani Sarem was the author of ''My Immortal''. |
Later in August, an [[Self-publishing|independently published]] ''Handbook for Mortals'' reached the top of the young adult [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''New York Times'' Best Seller list]]. Writing similarities between the novel and ''My Immortal'' led to speculation that ''Handbook for Mortals'' author Lani Sarem was the author of ''My Immortal''. Christoduolopoulous again updated the FictionPress account to say that she was not. She also stated on FictionPress that her only social media account was Tumblr, which operated under her pen name, Rose Christo (based off her middle name and a shortened form of her surname).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/my-immortal-fanfic-2017-update/|title=Did the mysterious fanfic author behind ‘My Immortal’ just resurface?|last=Baker-Whitelaw|first=Gavia|date=August 31, 2017|website=|publisher=''[[The Daily Dot]]''|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831214232/https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/my-immortal-fanfic-2017-update/|archive-date=2017-08-31|dead-url=no|access-date=August 31, 2017|df=}}</ref> Simultaneously, an editorial assistant at MacMillan Publishers also stated that Sarem was not the author of ''My Immortal'' by stating that the MacMillan will publish the author's memoir.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /> |
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These statements sparked a search for |
These statements sparked a search for Christoduolopoulos's Tumblr account, which ultimately succeeded in early September. By September 5, 2017, Christoduolopoulos stated on her Tumblr account that she wrote ''My Immortal'',<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/alannabennett/my-immortal-author-hi-vampire|title=People Think They Have The Answer To The Decade-Long Mystery Of Who Wrote "My Immortal"|last=Bennett|first=Alanna|date=September 5, 2017|website=|publisher=[[Buzzfeed]]|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=September 7, 2017}}</ref> and on September 7, Buzzfeed published her first official statement as the alleged author of ''My Immortal.''<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/alannabennett/exclusive-first-look-under-same-stars-my-immortal-memoir|title=The Story Of "My Immortal" Is More Wild And Heartbreaking Than You Imagined|last=Bennett|first=Alanna|date=September 7, 2017|website=|publisher=[[Buzzfeed]]|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=September 7, 2017}}</ref> She said of her decision to publicly identify herself as the author: "I would never have come forward about ''My Immortal'' if not for the fact that it coincided with the things that happened to me as a teen."<ref name=":2" /> |
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However, in the comments of a forum post created on September 5 2017, and in the comments of another post made shortly after, a user later confirmed to be Christoduolopoulos' brother through his personal facebook page revealed that she was not actually Native American, had not been the victim of the abuse she had claimed to have been a victim of, neither of them had been in foster care and they had separated due to her not communicating with him<ref>https://kiwifarms.net/threads/author-of-my-immortal-possibly-found.33996/</ref><ref>https://kiwifarms.net/threads/terry-rose-christo-theresa-christodoulopoulos-tara-gilesbie.34690/</ref>. This combined with the cancellation of the memoirs due to failing a fact check has lead many to believe Christoduopoulos did not in fact write ''My Immortal''. |
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==Plot summary== |
==Plot summary== |
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Revision as of 20:37, 4 October 2017
My Immortal is a Harry Potter fan fiction serially published on FanFiction.Net between 2006 and 2007. Known for an incomprehensible narrative and constant digressions, the story centers on a 17-year-old female vampire, a non-canonical character, and her relationships with the characters of the Harry Potter series, most notably her romantic relationship with Draco Malfoy. Ultimately, she is prompted by visions to travel back in time to try to defeat the main antagonist of the series, Lord Voldemort.
Since the beginning of the work's publication, it has garnered infamy for bad writing, inconsistency, and disregard for the Harry Potter source material. Often regarded as among the worst fan fiction written, My Immortal is felt to be a detriment to those attempting to bring legitimacy to fan fiction. Despite this, the series has also inspired multiple derivative works, including a YouTube web series, and is viewed with nostalgia for adolescent fan life.
For much of the work's existence, the identity of the author was publicly unknown and the question of authorship was considered "unsolvable". The author published the story under the username "XXXbloodyrists666XXX" and self-identified as Tara Gilesbie. In September 2017, the author updated her FictionPress account stating that she created an active Tumblr account under her real name; following an effort by fans to locate this Tumblr account, the author was identified to allegedly be young adult novelist Rose Christo, and she later publicly confirmed her identity as the author of My Immortal.
The story has been speculated to be a hoax designed to either troll readers or to satirize fan fiction, but the work and the alleged online presence of the author has also been described as too elaborate and too time-consuming to fake effectively. In September 2017, Christo stated that My Immortal is a work of satire.[1]
Background and publication
The work was published to FanFiction.Net between early 2006 and 2007, ultimately totaling 44 chapters and nearly 22,700 words.[2] The forty-fourth chapter was accompanied by an author's note explaining that the author was leaving "dubya [sic]", commonly believed to be Dubai, and the chapter would be the last until the author's return.[2][3] However, no further chapters were published. It was removed by site administrators in 2008, a few months after its last chapter was published. However, it survives in copied-and-pasted versions across the Internet.[2] The work apparently takes its name from the song "My Immortal" by Evanescence.[3][4]
Style and genre
My Immortal is split into 44 brief chapters. Author's notes, indicated by "AN", precede and are dispersed throughout the narrative prose. These notes are written in a largely phonetic spelling and characterized the author as "standoffish". As the work progressed, these author's notes increasingly became "defensive, impenetrable, and prone to mentioning suicide attempts" and defended the work's poor spelling and deviation from canon characterization from negative reviewers.[2]
Abraham Riesman of Vulture.com described the prose as having "awkward rhythm, strange digressions, and stultifyingly purple prose" and noted that the work is "agonizing" to a regular fan fiction reader because of "all the hated tropes" it employs in the opening passage alone.[2] Adi Robertson of The Verge observed that the quality of the prose declined after the twelfth chapter, when the work's editor had a falling out with the author and became temporarily uninvolved with the work; even after the editor and author reconciled, Robertson felt that the prose "never recovered".[3] Gavia Baker-Whitelaw of The Daily Dot noted the work "featured all the hallmarks of terrible fanfic: hundreds of grammar and spelling mistakes, a nonsensical storyline, and a Mary Sue protagonist who was clearly a glorified version of the author" and pointed out the numerous descriptions of the protagonist's Hot Topic outfits.[4]
The work is characterized by misspellings permeating both the work itself and the author's notes, to the point that the names of the protagonist and canonical Harry Potter characters are frequently and variously misspelled.[2][4]
The work has also been noted to fail to adhere to Harry Potter canon. It features "an incredibly OOC [out-of-character] Harry Potter universe"[5] where "at no point do any of the Harry Potter characters act even slightly like themselves".[6] References to "decidedly un-Harry Potterish bands" such as My Chemical Romance have also been noted.[4]
Chapters 39 and 40, according to the author's notes, were written by a hacker, and the writing in both chapters was a "much more controlled prose that read like a lampoon of the previous 38".[2]
Authorship and genre
For much of My Immortal's existence, the identity of its authorship was unknown. It was published under the username "XXXbloodyrists666XXX" and pseudonym Tara Gilesbie; author's notes identified the work's editor and beta reader by the name Raven, operating under the username "bloodytearz666". The true identity of Gilesbie became subject to wide speculated, and many attempted to locate her after the work's abrupt end; many impostors also claimed to be Gilesbie. In September 2017, the author identified herself as young adult novelist Rose Christo after speculation arose that the author was Lani Sarem, who came to attention for faking sales numbers of her novels, and ahead of the announcement of Christo's memoir, which covered the period of time in which My Immortal was written.
2006–2016: Speculation on authorship and genre
My Immortal was published under the username "XXXbloodyrists666XXX", and the author identified themselves as Tara Gilesbie. Author's notes identified a friend nicknamed Raven, operating under the username "bloodytearz666", as the work's editor and beta reader. Author's notes claimed that someone hacked into Gilesbie's account and wrote chapters 39 and 40.[2]
The true identity of the author became subject to wide speculation, and since the publication of the final chapter, various individuals have claimed to have written the work in jest or as a hoax.[2] Due to its "systematically terrible" quality, the work believed to be a satire or parody of fan fiction.[2][4]
At the same time, the "exceedingly complicated" details of the work, including a series of related online accounts outside of FanFiction.net and effort of writing a work of such length, led to a "consensus" among Encyclopedia Dramatica users that it would be too difficult to fake and that Gilesbie was writing sincerely, a sentiment apparently shared by other online communities who mocked the author.[2] Brad Kim, editor of Know Your Meme, supported the work as genuine, citing his experiences with writing workshops on LiveJournal and Xanga where he encountered similar works, as "these were the kinds of things that would be formulated by a high-school teenager in the early 2000s".[2]
Writing for Vulture.com, Abraham Riesman wrote that "[t]he mystery of the authorship of 'My Immortal' — even in this privacy-averse age — appears unsolvable."[2]
2017: Authorship Claim
Theresa Christoduolopoulos (commonly known as Rose Christo), who has written many young adult novels, began writing a memoir about what she claimed were her experiences as a Native American child in the New York foster care system. The memoir details the period of time during which she allegedly wrote My Immortal. Her memoirs were cancelled in October 2017 due to failing a routine fact check[7].
In March 2017, Christoduolopoulos quietly posted on her Tumblr account that she created My Immortal; however, the post gained little notice. In early August 2017, Christoduolopoulos posted an update to a FictionPress account that she claimed belonged to Tara Gilesbie.[8]
Later in August, an independently published Handbook for Mortals reached the top of the young adult New York Times Best Seller list. Writing similarities between the novel and My Immortal led to speculation that Handbook for Mortals author Lani Sarem was the author of My Immortal. Christoduolopoulous again updated the FictionPress account to say that she was not. She also stated on FictionPress that her only social media account was Tumblr, which operated under her pen name, Rose Christo (based off her middle name and a shortened form of her surname).[9] Simultaneously, an editorial assistant at MacMillan Publishers also stated that Sarem was not the author of My Immortal by stating that the MacMillan will publish the author's memoir.[8][10]
These statements sparked a search for Christoduolopoulos's Tumblr account, which ultimately succeeded in early September. By September 5, 2017, Christoduolopoulos stated on her Tumblr account that she wrote My Immortal,[10] and on September 7, Buzzfeed published her first official statement as the alleged author of My Immortal.[11] She said of her decision to publicly identify herself as the author: "I would never have come forward about My Immortal if not for the fact that it coincided with the things that happened to me as a teen."[11]
However, in the comments of a forum post created on September 5 2017, and in the comments of another post made shortly after, a user later confirmed to be Christoduolopoulos' brother through his personal facebook page revealed that she was not actually Native American, had not been the victim of the abuse she had claimed to have been a victim of, neither of them had been in foster care and they had separated due to her not communicating with him[12][13]. This combined with the cancellation of the memoirs due to failing a fact check has lead many to believe Christoduopoulos did not in fact write My Immortal.
Plot summary
The protagonist of the story is Ebony (occasionally Enoby, Evony, or Egogy) Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, a seventeen-year-old vampire who attends Hogwarts (located in England instead of originally Scotland) as a member of Slytherin House. Hogwarts is depicted as being divided between two cliques, the goths and the preps. Ebony and all the sympathetic characters are part of the goth clique while the members of the prep clique are portrayed unsympathetically. Many of the main characters of Harry Potter are given "goffik" [sic] makeovers, moved to the Slytherin House, and renamed.
The story begins by focusing on Ebony's relationship with her boyfriend Draco Malfoy, who is depicted as a shy, sensitive bisexual. After learning that Draco used to date the vampire known as Harry "Vampire" Potter, Ebony becomes so angry that she runs crying into the Forbidden Forest, where she meets Lord Voldemort. Voldemort demands that she kill "Vampire" Potter or else he will kill Draco, but Ebony refuses. Later on, Draco learns of this encounter and he is so angry that Ebony kept it from him that he commits suicide by slitting his wrists.
In a subsequent scene, however, Vampire has a vision of Draco being held prisoner by Voldemort. The discrepancy between this and the earlier depiction of Draco having committed suicide is not explained. After rescuing Draco from Voldemort, Ebony and her friends attend a My Chemical Romance concert in Hogsmeade. The concert is crashed by Voldemort and his Death Eaters, but Ebony and Draco are rescued by Albus Dumbledore, who has just given himself a gothic makeover. The next day, Dumbledore gives a gothic makeover to the Hogwarts Great Hall as well, but Ebony feels that he is a poseur and dislikes him greatly, a sentiment shared by her friends.
During this time, Lucius Malfoy and Sirius Black are inexplicably shot by a "black guy". There is also a secondary plot point in which Professor Trelawney/Professor Sinistra (combined into one character for reasons unknown, and often referred to as "Professor Sinister") have an addiction to the truth serum Veritaserum, which is never spelled correctly in the story. A third plot point sees Professor McGonagall (often referred to as "McGoogle" or "McGoggles") and Severus Snape (often called "Snap", or "Snope" at times) attempting to rape or harm the protagonists. Yet another plot point follow Remus Lupin and Snape being bisexuals who spy on Ebony, at one point resulting in a moment shortly after Draco's "death" where they are sitting on their broomsticks with "Loopin masticating [sic]" to Ebony bathing. In addition, Hagrid has inexplicably become a teenaged Hogwarts student who has a crush on Ebony, and Severus Snape is depicted as two separate characters called Severus and Snape.
Ebony begins having mysterious visions, which she is told indicates she must travel back in time to stop Tom Riddle from becoming Voldemort by seducing him, and to retrieve an antidote for Sinister/Sinistra/Trelawney. Arriving in the past, she meets the young Riddle, who calls himself "Satan", and who has been mistakenly referred to as "Tom Anderson", "Tom Bombadil", and "Stan". "Satan" is in a band with James Potter, Severus Snape, Sirius Black, and Lucius Malfoy. He is uncanonically depicted attending Hogwarts at the same time as the Marauders in what is further uncanonically portrayed as the 1980s. The author points out a few anachronisms in these scenes, telling readers to ignore them. There is also an unexplained cameo by a gothic Marty McFly, with the DeLorean time machine able to transform into an iPod.
Eventually, Ebony brings "Satan" forward in time, where he morphs into the present-day Voldemort. This leads to a confrontation between the forces of good and evil in the Great Hall. The story ends ambiguously with Ebony firing off an Avada Kedavra curse, which is misrepresented as "abra kedabra".
Reception
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2016) |
Before its removal from FanFiction.Net, My Immortal allegedly gained between 8,000[3][14] to 10,000[2] reviews per posted chapter, most of which were negative and contained flaming.[3][14] The quality of the writing and the author's apparently Goth lifestyle also drew attacks and mockery from users on Encyclopedia Dramatica, TV Tropes, LiveJournal, Something Awful, YTMND, and YouTube.[2]
Rob Bricken of io9 described the work as a "masterpiece of weirdness" and a "masterpiece of literary disaster".[6] Mathilda Gregory of BuzzFeed called My Immortal a "work of comic genius" that is "oddly touching."[15]
Legacy
The work is often cited as the worst fan fiction ever written[2][3][5] or at least a "strong contender" for the title.[4] The work is considered "iconic" not only within the Harry Potter fandom but also within the larger fan fiction community.[4][5]
The infamy of the work is considered a "constant millstone around the necks of fanfiction enthusiasts who struggle to bring legitimacy to the genre".[2]
Derivative works
Despite its infamy, My Immortal inspired further fan works, including fan art and further fan fiction. It was the subject of numerous YouTube dramatic readings intending to mock the work,[2] and it later inspired a fifteen-episode web series satirizing the work.[2][4]
See also
- The Eye of Argon, a published 1970 novella with a similar reputation
References
- ^ Reisman, Abraham (September 7, 2017). "Alleged Author of Legendarily Bad Fanfic 'My Immortal' Steps Forward, Announces Book Deal". Vulture. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Riesman, Abraham (March 12, 2015). "The Bizarre, Unsolved Mystery of 'My Immortal,' the World's Worst Fanfiction Story". Vulture.com. Archived from the original on November 25, 2015. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d e f Robertson, Adi (December 10, 2013). "The Worst Thing Ever Written". The Verge. Archived from the original on December 2, 2015. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d e f g h Baker-Whitelaw, Gavia (July 29, 2013). "The worst "Harry Potter" fanfic ever is now a hilarious webseries". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on June 12, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c Jaffe, Brooke (July 29, 2013). "Infamously Bad Harry Potter Fanfic My Immortal Gets Web Series". The Mary Sue. Archived from the original on July 13, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Bricken, Rob (July 30, 2013). "The most infamously awful fanfic ever, "My Immortal," has a web series". io9. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ https://www.buzzfeed.com/jarrylee/the-my-immortal-book-is-no-longer-going-to-be-published?utm_term=.ycq11EW11#.gyKzz2Azz
- ^ a b Romano, Aja (September 13, 2017). "My Immortal: solving the mystery of the internet's most beloved — and notorious — fanfic". Vox. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ Baker-Whitelaw, Gavia (August 31, 2017). "Did the mysterious fanfic author behind 'My Immortal' just resurface?". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 2017-08-31. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help); Unknown parameter|dead-url=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Bennett, Alanna (September 5, 2017). "People Think They Have The Answer To The Decade-Long Mystery Of Who Wrote "My Immortal"". Buzzfeed. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ a b Bennett, Alanna (September 7, 2017). "The Story Of "My Immortal" Is More Wild And Heartbreaking Than You Imagined". Buzzfeed. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ https://kiwifarms.net/threads/author-of-my-immortal-possibly-found.33996/
- ^ https://kiwifarms.net/threads/terry-rose-christo-theresa-christodoulopoulos-tara-gilesbie.34690/
- ^ a b Payne, E.A. (2011). The Ultimate Guide to the Harry Potter Fandom. Rowan Tree Books. p. 141. ISBN 978-0615714912.
- ^ Gregory, Mathilda (February 19, 2016). "The Gloriously Immortal Life of "My Immortal"". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on September 16, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help)