First, I'm delighted beyond words that you (and others) have responded well to Beverly and her role in the fic. I'm also thrilled that the case *worked* - I was really, really struggling with it for the longest time, and it was the absolute last part to come together. I was very worried that it would come across as lame as I thought it was when I was drafting it all.
Next, as far as John...yeah, that's exactly how I feel a fair and balanced portrayal of John should be. What I hoped to achieve was a sight of his fragility and his desperate need...while not forgiving the unforgivable mistakes he made in the name of a greater good--or more often, simply in the name of his vendetta. I wanted to reflect the mix of wanting to smack him upside the head much of the time along with the desire to give him a hug and offer him peace. (Points up - one commenter says she has no urge to offer John any sort of comfort; I say that's pretty harsh considering all he had to be going on with.)
John is a very difficult character to portray with that sweet spot of balance - many fics either show him as unrelentingly hardassed and pigheaded for no reason or go too far into schmoop (especially for when the boys were really young). But I also don't think his emotional withdrawal and absence from the boys happened all at once - and it didn't happen in a straight trajectory, either. I think of it as tacking into the wind.
So thank you for affirming that I hit that target.
As I said in the A/N, this fic is actually a prequel of sorts to "Trost und Freude," because while writing that, I had to fill in some of the blanks in their past, and I started thinking about Beverly and her relationship with the Winchesters. When I tried to place her in the timeline, and I realized that John's reaction to the shtriga must have been at least as freaked out at Dean's...everything fell into place.
So, yeah - I am metaing, but I agree that John was highly human and very complex and ultimately broken, but still functional, if hard-headed.
Anyway. Thanks SO MUCH for the amazingly kind feedback!
no subject
Well.
First, I'm delighted beyond words that you (and others) have responded well to Beverly and her role in the fic. I'm also thrilled that the case *worked* - I was really, really struggling with it for the longest time, and it was the absolute last part to come together. I was very worried that it would come across as lame as I thought it was when I was drafting it all.
Next, as far as John...yeah, that's exactly how I feel a fair and balanced portrayal of John should be. What I hoped to achieve was a sight of his fragility and his desperate need...while not forgiving the unforgivable mistakes he made in the name of a greater good--or more often, simply in the name of his vendetta. I wanted to reflect the mix of wanting to smack him upside the head much of the time along with the desire to give him a hug and offer him peace. (Points up - one commenter says she has no urge to offer John any sort of comfort; I say that's pretty harsh considering all he had to be going on with.)
John is a very difficult character to portray with that sweet spot of balance - many fics either show him as unrelentingly hardassed and pigheaded for no reason or go too far into schmoop (especially for when the boys were really young). But I also don't think his emotional withdrawal and absence from the boys happened all at once - and it didn't happen in a straight trajectory, either. I think of it as tacking into the wind.
So thank you for affirming that I hit that target.
As I said in the A/N, this fic is actually a prequel of sorts to "Trost und Freude," because while writing that, I had to fill in some of the blanks in their past, and I started thinking about Beverly and her relationship with the Winchesters. When I tried to place her in the timeline, and I realized that John's reaction to the shtriga must have been at least as freaked out at Dean's...everything fell into place.
So, yeah - I am metaing, but I agree that John was highly human and very complex and ultimately broken, but still functional, if hard-headed.
Anyway. Thanks SO MUCH for the amazingly kind feedback!