An LLM will write in the style of my immortal just fine if you ask it to.
The internet stir it caused when it became viral probably means it’s more prominent in training datasets than many other unironically good works of literature from the same time period.
Writing “My Immortal” in 2006 when nothing quite like it had ever been written before, is a (possibly unintentional) stroke of genius. Writing “My Immortal” after it’s already been written is worthless.
Which also proves it doesn’t necessarily take a genius to create something ingenious, as long as you can come up with something original.
Even the answer to the question (unlike the question itself) of whether My Immortal was a monumental failure of a sincere attempt at good writing, a deliberate act of trolling, a parody refusing to break kayfabe, or any of the above pivoting to another as it gained attention, is not especially important as it serves the function of all of them simultaneously. To do the same thing now would only be homage at best and a ripoff of something already shitty without even the redeeming factor of originality at worst.
An LLM will write in the style of my immortal just fine if you ask it to.
The internet stir it caused when it became viral probably means it’s more prominent in training datasets than many other unironically good works of literature from the same time period.
Writing “My Immortal” in 2006 when nothing quite like it had ever been written before, is a (possibly unintentional) stroke of genius. Writing “My Immortal” after it’s already been written is worthless.
Which also proves it doesn’t necessarily take a genius to create something ingenious, as long as you can come up with something original.
Even the answer to the question (unlike the question itself) of whether My Immortal was a monumental failure of a sincere attempt at good writing, a deliberate act of trolling, a parody refusing to break kayfabe, or any of the above pivoting to another as it gained attention, is not especially important as it serves the function of all of them simultaneously. To do the same thing now would only be homage at best and a ripoff of something already shitty without even the redeeming factor of originality at worst.
hot take: My Immortal is more important than the Mona Lisa (good actually)