[meme] Five Questions

[mmexlibris]

Pick a character I write, and I will give you the top five ideas/concepts/other I keep in mind while writing that character that I believe are essential to depicting them accurately. This includes both original characters and characters about whom I write fanfic.

from ceitfianna 

Comments

[mm-spinelstar.livejournal.com]

Sherlock Holmes.

[mmexlibris]

1. Sherlock is, canon, from his own lips, not a psychopath, but a high functioning sociopath. This means many things. First and foremost, he does not experience emotion the same way most normal people do. He is aware of their social necessities, and he is cognizant that they impact other people in a way that they do not impact him. But he does not feel the same way other people do. I am not fully prepared to say that he feels nothing, because this is clearly not true. He forms strong attachments to people. Things make him happy and sad. But he is fundamentally different on that one key level.

2. He's a genius. Sherlock's mind never shuts down. He is always 'on'. He is always taking in information, always analysing and processing, always making connections. As such, he gets bored easily.

3. He creates vast networks of contacts. He cultivates relationships with people as sources of information. He can be extremely charming and charismatic when it suits him.

4. Sherlock is largely motivated by self-interest. He doesn't feel the need to do things out of obligation, or out of guilt. He does things because they're interesting.

5. Sherlock is very immature in his own way. The best way to see this is to observe his relationship with his brother.