In this episode of Most Writers Are Fans, host Terry Bartley interviewed queer YA author, Aaron Aceves (This is Why They Hate Us). They talked about Aaron's journey as an author, finding the right agent, and getting traditionally published. They also talked about bisexual representation, since they are both bi men writing bisexual characters.
Representation is something that feels easy. Make sure you include characters from all kinds of backgrounds. If you write a bisexual character, you've gotta make sure that there are plotlines that establish attraction to more than one gender, because how can they be bi otherwise?
However, Aaron's book is an example of how you don't have to do this. In the same way that a bisexual person doesn't become magically not bisexual the moment they enter a relationship, the same can be said for characters. You can have a bisexual guy in your book who spends the whole book being obsessed with a guy and maybe only makes a passing remark or two about acknowledging that anyone other than a guy is hot. It's o.k. because that's how a lot of bisexual people live! There are plenty of bisexual people who are only in relationships with one gender for their entire lives, and guess what, that doesn't change their sexuality.
Sexuality is a personal thing, and it isn't always reflected in someone's external life. But bi people who live this way still want their experience reflected in the media!
Think about that next time you write a book with a certain kind of representation. Does it reflect the life of at least one person whose identity is your writing? Then you wrote the exact book for that person, and that's great.
Tyranny of the Fey is now available in hardcover and paperback, eBook, and audiobook. Read my stories now on terrybartley.com. Send requests to be a guest or comments about the episode to press@starlightkingpress.com Theme Song: Young Squire - TrackTribe, Piano track by sing2piano
Sep 9 202520 mins