Hi all!

For pride month I thought I'd share a post about to write bisexual characters! Before you ask, yes, I am bisexual myself. I haven't really told many people so I guess this is me telling the world?

Anyway, I've seen bisexual characters written effectively and some... Not so much. Like my blog post about writing characters with anxiety, I thought I'd share a few tips.

I tried to take a picture of my bisexual pride shirt with Mishka, but she wanted to be the centre of attention!

It's not a 50/50 split.

This means how much the person is attracted to each gender. When people think bisexual, they tend to think of it as a 50/50 split on attraction to gender. This is not true. While some might like both equally, some might prefer men, while others women. Decide how the attraction is split before you write them. For me it's 75/25, with a preference for men.

Don't have them shamed for preferring one over the other.

This just irks me. I've been told that I'm not actually bisexual because I prefer men, which is not the case. No matter what the split is, they are bisexual.

Don't turn them gay or straight depending on who they're with.

Just because I'm in a heterosexual relationship, it doesn't mean that I'm magically straight. I'm still attracted to women and men and always will be, no matter who I'm with. The character's sexuality shouldn't change depending on who they're dating. You can write a character as bicurious, but that's a different thing all together.

Have them suddenly decide they're not bisexual anymore.

Finding a good partner doesn't mean that they'll immediately 'decide' to be gay or straight. Just no.

Don't write stereotypes.

Bisexual people are not promiscuous, despite many people thinking so. A lot of people seem to equate bisexuality with threesomes or cheating, but that's not the case at all.

Don't make other characters tease them about having to decide.

Just no. I've heard this enough times and it's stupid. I don't have to 'decide' anything, I'm bisexual and that's not changing.

Don't make them date everyone they see.

Bisexual people have standards and types too. Just because we like both sexes doesn't mean we'll date every single person from either.

Make them ashamed of themselves for their sexuality.

I like to read about confident LGBTQ+ characters, and write about them too! I'd like to see more books with bisexual characters being confident and happy with their sexuality. Writing characters that aren't comfortable with liking both or the opposite sex is overdone and not a good representation of the LGBTQ+ community. By all means write about their journey to accepting themselves, but don't end the book with them hating who they are and deciding to not be bisexual.

That's it for this week! I hope you enjoyed reading and have found my tips helpful. See you next week.