I have known one or two men who combine rock solid self-confidence with genuine sympathy for those with emotional problems, and this John was heavily inspired by them. And it was easy to draw on my own experience to give Sherlock the kind of intellectual's insecurity that would resonate with a lot of my likely audience (who appear to be over-educated to a woman). The problem is that I know that neuroticism isn't sexy in real life, and especially not neuroticism when it's got to the stage of self-harm. So to get a realistic happy ending involved an incredibly long detour into shoring up Sherlock. Though I was pleased to have thought of the boot camp, because it's more interesting to write about than just talking therapy, and it fits quite nicely with the basic premise of cutting. Sit-ups, after all, are really the socially acceptable way of making your body hurt so much that you don't have time to worry about your mental trauma. (As well as giving Sherlock abs, which is a nice thought).
As for the therapy, I did actually get one version of Sherlock (in Resume (http://marysutherland.livejournal.com/3991.html)) undergoing rational-cognitive therapy, which is supposed to be good for depression/insecurity, and whose underlying premises of accurate observation of others' reactions would probably appeal to this Sherlock as well. (I didn't find RCT helpful, the one time I had it, but I'm Not Sherlock).
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-11-09 04:44 pm (UTC)As for the therapy, I did actually get one version of Sherlock (in Resume (http://marysutherland.livejournal.com/3991.html)) undergoing rational-cognitive therapy, which is supposed to be good for depression/insecurity, and whose underlying premises of accurate observation of others' reactions would probably appeal to this Sherlock as well. (I didn't find RCT helpful, the one time I had it, but I'm Not Sherlock).