Ahaha, yeah, I don't normally think about it either! But I also don't normally brainstorm the way I did about this particular AU, so it's been a weird sort of process for me overall. Generally I just sit down and write, and if John feels right, he feels right. If he doesn't, I have to go back and see where he did something OOC and fix it (but even then I don't generally think about his motivations or personality or anything). I just fix it, and finish writing it. For me, generally, the analysis is completely separate from the writing (and mostly after the fact).