Deborah Baudoin

Fan
Name:	Deborah Baudoin, Debbie Baudoin
Alias(es):	DebbieB, MinervaFan, minerva_fan
Type:	fan writer, fan artist, zine ed, moderator
Fandoms:	Star Trek: TOS, Star Trek: TNG, Star Trek: DS9, Star Trek: VOY, Babylon 5, The Waltons, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, General Hospital, The West Wing, Battlestar Galactica
Communities:
Other:
URL:	author page minerva_fan at LiveJournal DebbieB at FictionAlley MinervaFan at FictionAlley Park
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Deborah Baudoin is a fan writer who has been in fandom since 1984. Her work has appeared in several fanzines and she was also a zine editor. She also posts fanfiction online as DebbieB and minerva_fan.

Zines

Zines featuring Debbie's fanfiction include:

• Eridani #13 (1991)
• Idylls #6 (1991)
• Close Enough to Smell Them #2 (c.1991)
• Federation Standard #1 & 2 (1991–1992)
• Supernova #7 (1992)
• Federation Classic (1992–1993)
• Haven (1992–1995)
• Eridani Omnibus #2 (1995)
• The Farthest Frontier #2 & 3 (1996)
• Millennium #2 (2004)
• Orion Archives: 2270-2272 The First Hiatus

Debbie also was a co-editor of Federation Classic and Haven.

Journal Communities

Debbie has moderated a number of communites on LiveJournal, including the Harry Potter Old Lady Smut Brigade, From The West Wing, Caprica's Sun, Chamalla Dreams, Beyond Ballyhoo, Fabulous Fi!, and the Tracy Quartermaine Ficathon.

Baudoin's Comments

From the 2000 project, Writers and Writing:

The first real Trek story I wrote was about Christine Chapel. Ironically, the story I am working on now (twelve years later) is a Christine Chapel story. Of course, I went through the entire gamut of fan fiction before coming back full circle. (All Trek generations, Babylon 5, filk, etc.)

Comparing the two Chapel stories--my first and my most recent--I find some interesting similarities and differences.

1. Both stories show Chapel dealing with a transitional time in her life. The first was set right after Roger Korby's "death;" my current story is set when Chapel is in her 80s and finds herself putting together the pieces of a puzzle left to her by a missing Spock.

2. In both stories, the character's emotional state reflects my current emotional state. My current story shows an older, calmer, wiser Chapel than the Chapel in my first story.

3. Obviously, with twelve years of experience, the writing quality has markedly improved from the first story. I'm no longer in a rush to tell the tale; I just let things happen as they happen. I've also overcome my fear of narration--it's been downgraded from full-grown phobia to mild discomfort.

4. Upon reflection, I'm also noticing one thing that hasn't changed--I'm still allergic to complex plots. My stories are (and have always been) character driven, dealing with one or two life-issues rather than an involved plot.

5. Finally, the biggest difference in the stories is my confidence level as a writer. I went through this period where I felt like I couldn't truly call myself a writer if all I did was fanfic. I went through the whole "submit-to-Analog-get-the-reflection-drown-my-sorrow-in-chocolate" phase for about two years. Finally, I realized that my job as a writer is to write what I write, not what I think I'm supposed to write. Once I stopped knocking myself for not being the next Ray Bradbury, I freed myself up to do some of the better work I have ever done.

I now write when I feel like it, without concern as to whether it will sell or be published or even if people will like it. I no longer have a need for validation (though it's always fun to receive praise). And I think it shows in my writing.

I think the entire senior crew from The Cage could have provided a lot of interesting moments. I did a lot of my stories in that era simply because it was such a wide-open field. You had hints of characters, and the freedom to go with them in the direction you liked.

One relationship I really developed in my novella "Shayla" was the friendship between Dr. Philip Boyce (the precurser to McCoy) and the original Number One (whose character was eventually merged into that of Spock). In my version of the Cage universe, Boyce and Number One had a platonic but extraordinarily complex relationship. He was the only person who could get under her skin, but he was also her staunchest defender. She baited him, felt safe with him, but also could not stand him from time to time. I also made sure that (in my back-story at least) Boyce had seen Number One lose control on shore leave at least once. Not that he'd ever blackmail her, but he certainly enjoys the possibility of it.

In Number One, I saw the potential for a complex female character who had her secrets, but still managed to get the job done. I was rather disappointed that she was rarely ever mentioned in the professional Trek fiction. And much of the fan fiction (including some of my own, I'm embarrassed to admit) focused more on that one line about her fantasies for Pike than on the character herself.

I do like writing the Chapel and McCoy relationship, because it's very easy to keep it platonic. In my stories, they are like brother and sister (except for one desperate attempt to fill space in an issue of Supernova. Don't ask. I got them together. I'm sorry.) He's Tom Sawyer to her Becky Thatcher--charming, but she doesn't really take him all that seriously. I also like the idea that, more than anyone else on the ship, McCoy knows there's more to Chapel than just a love-sick fool.

Sadly, the potential for good platonic friendships between male and female Trek characters has never been really explored enough in filmed Trek for me. DS9 did the best job of it, with Dax and Kira maintaining strong relationships with the men around them. Unfortunately, this was the exception to the rule and even Rick Berman went on record (in TV Guide) to say that Sisko's only close relationships were with women, and that made him seem like a weak leader. (!!!!!)

So, while I do write relationship stories, my preference is developing the characters as individuals first and parts of couples second.