Tag: asexual characters

June 8, 2026 / Elise Carlson / 0 Comments

As a nineties kid; I never saw myself in fiction. Never truly connected with characters and didn’t really have role models. I didn’t know why I liked alternating between writing male main characters and female ones. Or why it was so important to me toput friendship groups at the heart of the stories I told, and so hard to include romance (no, I’ve never and may never attempt to write sex!) Reasons of awareness, acknowledgement existence, reference points of aromantic, asexual and nonbinary life, and the importance of writing each identity specifically, to me personally, are all unpacked below.

Growing Up Different

The world assigned ‘female’ as my gender at birth. That was how everyone else saw me. I both did and didn’t see myself that way. I was girl, boy and neither. ‘Androgenous’ resonated with me at fifteen, being the closest term and concept to the reality of me that I was aware of. (Which may be why I chose ‘andro’ as the term for ‘nonbinary’ in Sythe Series.)

My late childhood and early teens were an uncomfortable time. Not, like for many trans people, because of puberty. I was tall, broad shouldered and a late bloomer. I looked a kid/ androgenous, and felt I could act that way when I wanted, so from eleven to fifteen I wasn’t too uncomfortable gender wise.

It was the impact of romantic and sexual attraction, and my peers starting to have boyfriends or girlfriends that opened a giant gulf between us. I wanted to be people’s friends, like I always had. But boys seemed less interested in friendship. If they liked you; they tended to want to be your boyfriend. And as girls I was friends with started having boyfriends, friendship groups, which were still central to my life, became more sidelined to them, as the boyfriend became the centre.

I didn’t know I was aromantic. No one in the 2000’s was using that term! Or asexual! I just accepted that some friends were on different paths, and we were drifting apart. I let a couple of friendships I’d really enjoyed come to an end, as the couples hung out more and more, and the singles drifted away.

Life Without Role Models Or Rep

Aro-Ace

Not having terms or clarity around my disinterest in romantic or sexual partnerships meant I didn’t have the language to navigate those differences with coupled-up friends. Or the language and understanding of differences to pursue those relationships, instead of letting them end. It also meant my friends had no means of understanding where I was coming from.

Because all we’d ever seen as children was Disney films telling us ‘true (romantic) love’ is the most important thing to being happy. We grew up in a generation where it was assumed everyone would marry someone of the opposite sex, have kids, buy a house and that was it!

Neither fiction nor the media presented alternatives. SO much of it had people kissing passionately and pulling off each other’s clothes, and experiencing sexual attraction, again implying that ‘everyone does this.’ And ‘everyone wants this.’ Nothing portrayed people like me. Nothing seemed to explore alternate relationships.

So an important part of writing aro-ace main characters in Ruarnon Trilogy and Sythe Series, was writing the rep I never had. Rep I could have benefited so much from.

Nonbinary

By my early twenties, it took ages to realise I’d presented too feminine, too many days in a row. When I dressed that way, it inclined me to behave feminine, even when I didn’t feel it. People tended to positively reinforce my feminine presentation with compliments. And this became a cycle of presenting more feminine than I felt, not expressing my gender often enough, and so feeling muted/ emotionally flat.

It took a while to realise that I liked running daily, and felt better doing it wearing baggy, androgenous or masculine clothing. And that I needed to wear PANTs (trousers for British readers) sometimes. That was as balanced as my wardrobe got in my twenties, and it skewed towards feminine and not quite comfortable.

I also felt like I had to speak with a higher pitched, more feminine voice. Like speaking in the deeper tone natural to my height could be seen as ‘hostile’ or unfriendly. Again, subtle ways people around me responded, probably subconsciously, likely influenced this. And me feeling I had to behave the way the world showed people of my biological sex behaving.

I didn’t question any of it much, or explore it, or know anyone who did. Or didn’t read stories or see books about gender nonconformity beyond the occasional ‘tomboy’. I was blundering around, being myself through sheer trial and error, too little self reflection. (Though luckily, with a strong sense of adventure, willingness to take risks and autistic tendency to perceive other people’s expectations as illogical, and therefore dismissible.)

Aro-Ace and Nonbinary Reference Points

In writing aromantic, asexual characters, whose experiences are similar too, and in some ways diverge from my own, I hope to give readers the point of reference my generation didn’t have. To allow other people who feel different, but don’t understand how or why, points of comparison. And give them the chance to see and reflect upon themself. To develop a clearer understanding of who they are. Or the chance to recognise traits of people they know, to understand that person better.

Having been in many queer and neurodivergent conversations online, discussing our traits has helped SO MANY of us realise who we are. Comparing differences and similarities can help you know for eg; yes I am aromantic, but not asexual, etc. The more you see of people like and unlike yourself, the more chances you have to notice and better understand yourself, and or other people.

Wait, I’m Queer & My Main Characters Are Too?

Having had the above online interactions, found my labels, identities and claimed my place in the queer community in my early thirties; it was my characters’ turn. I got to understand why Ruarnon was ‘a different, nebulous kind of masculine’ -because they’re actually nonbinary!

And while I didn’t understand that Linh was fiercely, independently and happily single, because she’s the kind of aro-ace whose disinterested in romance and sex, I had fun writing her. Writing someone who went about living her own life, undefined by her relationship to others (something I’ve since learnt some women find challenging). And I enjoyed writing Ruarnon, to whom platonic friendships are dear.

In writing two aro-ace, romantic and sexual relationship disinterested characters, I had the chance to develop a whole friendship group. To let those friends get to know each other well, so well they could predict how the other would solve problems (something I played with in War in Sorcery’s Shadow). In other words; to show that for some people a friendship group is all the companionship, understanding and fulfilment they need. That no, everyone DOES NOT need a romantic or sexual relationship to be happy.

Left Image: Ruarnon of Ruarnon trilogy wearing bronze armour, leaving on a spear and holding a helmet, aromantic, aro-ace and nonbinary flags displayed below them.Ruarnon Portrait by GlintOfMischief.Right Image: The middle of the cover of SciFi-Fantasy book, Countering the Hands of Crime, Sythe Series 2.Image: Amon (they/them -queer questioning flag), Rarkin (he/him -queer questioning flag), Miona (she/her) (lesbian and demisexual flags) and Rinth (he/him) (aromantic and asexual flags), stand before the high metal gate and stone fence of Monster Containment, a multicolour magic shield rising across the sky behind them.
They wear green Monster Containment Uniforms, Amon carries a long range gun, Rarkin holds a hand gun, Miona and Rinth wear protective gloves.Sythe Series Art by Lawrence Mann.

Breaking Allo Romantic & Allo Sexual Molds

The ‘everyone will fall in love and get married and have kids line’ that gen Y and earlier were sold created PROBLEMS for many aromantic and asexual people. I knew that when I felt some form of attraction to boys; it was different. Because I was never as ‘into’ them as they were into me. I hesitated to date anyone, for fear of breaking their hearts. And I wanted to (and did) dedicate my time to things I was interested in; writing SFF, travel, teaching etc.

But having spoken to many aro and ace people online, I suspect I’m an exception, not the norm. Many aro and ace people did date. They did (and some still do) have relationships. And don’t feel the same way their partners feel or behave in the romantically attracted, sexually attracted, interested in both of relationships way society portrays as ‘normal’. And that’s led plenty of aro and ace people to feel ‘broken’ or like something is ‘wrong’ with them or they don’t ‘love properly’. In an aro and ace representation void; that’s a too easy conclusion to draw.

You CAN be Aromantic or Asexual, Happy & Whole!

I think it’s important that I’ve portrayed Linh as a whole, happy person, while being a happily single girl. That I’ve portrayed Ruarnon feeling complete and content in their platonic friendships. That despite both not experiencing romantic love; their love for platonic friends and care for others throughout Ruarnon Trilogy is clear, dispelling the misconception that aro people are ‘unloving’ or ‘uncaring.’

For me, aro and ace rep isn’t just a case of; guess what humans, some of us do not experience romantic or sexual attraction! And some of them are not even interested in romantic and sexual relationships. And that’s ok! (Yeah, fundamentalist Christians can stick their sexist, misogynist expectations up their arses. Tell them I said so if you like!) It’s also that writing aro and ace characters is a chance to portray how aro and ace people can lead whole and happy lives. To counter misconceptions and self doubt. I hope I do both well!

Queer Platonic Relationships

I wanted to go further. Because romantic relationships and platonic friendships/ family relationships aren’t the only ones that exist. There’s also queer platonic relationships. In my new series, Rarkin isn’t sexually attracted or romantically attracted to another character. But why does he always notice how that character smiles? What are these feelings? What kind of relationship does he want?!

These were themes I also wanted to explore, so Sythe Series, by book 2, Countering the Hands of Crime, dives into a queer platonic relationship (alongside completing a rogue crime boss arc). Again, its about writing a more complete view of the human experience of relationships. Of letting people of lesser known, poorer understood identities see their relationships on the page. Of giving readers who do experience sexual and romantic attraction, and possibly don’t understand or are unfamiliar with queer platonic relationships, some insight into relationships beyond their lived experience.

(I qualify that with the fact VERY neurodivergent communication is just as much a defining feature of said relationship, so it isn’t just aro-ace and gay; it’s also very neurodivergent.)

Writing Nonbinary Rep

I published Manipulator’s War in April 2022, within memory of some cis people replying to my tweet about preferring to be referred to as they/them with polite confusion. Writing a nonbinary main character mattered to me from a general awareness of gender diversity perspective. Again, giving cis readers the chance to perceive the world through nonbinary eyes, and nonbinary readers the chance to see themselves on the pages of books was important to me. Giving people examples and reference points to understand themselves and others mattered.

I still treasure reviews like this one from Bookbub: Okay, first and foremost, I have to say thank you for this book. In all honesty, while there are some books that have queer representation, and more are coming, it’s rare that there are characters that are like me. Watching this non-binary human take on their challenges was so inspiring and kept me completely hooked.

And reviews in which the (cis) reader was interested in reading a book written from a nonbinary perspective.

But with the hysteria about trans women in the UK and US, the two governments having chosen to make trans women scapegoats for anger about end stage capitalism, democracy and each government’s shitfuckery (a term borrowed from Juice Media)… you’d be forgiven for forgetting that trans masc and nonbinary people exist. That we’re still here, queer, and like trans women; we aren’t going anywhere!

So in 2026, promoting Ruarnon Trilogy with its nonbinary main character Ruarnon, and writing a nonbinary pov character in Sythe Series is also an act of protest, and resistance.

Move Over; We’re Taking Centre Stage!

There’s one more important point about writing aromantic, asexual, nonbinary characters, as an author who shares all three of those identities. With forty years of lived experience, I don’t have the confines of a cis gender, alloromantic, allosexual author merely wishing to include these characters. I have the knowledge, understanding and insight to put these characters on centre stage. To centre their lived experiences, including their romantic and sexual orientations and gender identity, and how these impact other areas of their lives. (And their autistic and ADHD-ness too.)

In Ruarnon Trilogy in particular, Ruarnon being Tarlah’s first nonbinary heir influences the way they approach plot problems; navigating war, diplomacy and peace. Their refusal to pay heed to binary gender norms influences who they take advice from, and appoint to high office. It helps them to navigate and avoid mistakes (male) rulers before them have made.

Meanwhile, the fact they aren’t besotted with or distracted by the romantic love of their life (and likely their strong autistic sense of social justice), is a big influence on Linh, Ruarnon and Rarkin. The fact you mainly see the former two, and still frequently see the latter interact with friends, acquaintances and strangers showcases their independence, care and compassion for others. How better to make it clear that aromantic, asexual and nonbinary people exist, and can be happy and whole humans, than by writing them as main characters of the stories I tell?!

[Neurodivergent and Disability Note: while I’m also passionate about autism and ADHD rep and have included such main characters in Ruarnon Trilogy and Sythe Series, I’ve only been chronically ill for four years. Writing Fantasy and SciFi Fantasy has been my escape from fatigue and chronic pain in real life, so I’m not yet ready to write a chronically ill main character. But I hope to do so in my third series, which I hope to begin publishing in 2029, after finishing Sythe Series in 2028.]

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LGBTQIA+ Visibility

Writing Diverse Characters LGBTQIA+ will cover; general advice on referring to humans’ gender and romantic/sex lives in a queer inclusive way, that doesn’t perpetuate the myth of heteronormativity. It will offer suggestions on writing that queer rep that is visibly inclusive of a range of LGBTQIA+ identities, avoiding erasure, and some tips on writing authentic LGBTQIA+ representation.

Inclusive Language

As a child, I assumed books referring to ‘humans’ were talking about men, women and children. By around age eight (in the 1990’s), I became aware that history was mostly written about men, by men, for men. Meanwhile most news was about men and lo and behold, men were the usual main characters in fiction. I grew up in a world that frequently ignored, omitted and when it got away with it, excluded women, let alone the entire LGBTQIA+ community.

Now I write as a nonbinary, asexual, aromantic person who mostly encounters fiction which ignores, excludes and appears mostly oblivious to the existence of my gender and sexuality. This is why I want writers to make conscious word choices, which allow people of any gender or sexual orientation to see themselves in your writing and to perceive themselves as belonging in the world of your fiction. So I’ll start there, before looking at writing specific queer identities.

Gender Inclusive Phrasing

In How Not To Write Diverse Characters, I mentioned the inherent bias and prejudice of the world in which we have all been raised. In relation to perceiving gender in books, there’s the still the chance readers will assume your use of the words; ‘doctors’, ‘police,’ ‘lawyers,’ ‘scientists,’ ‘soldiers’ and jobs in historically male-dominated fields refer to men. Conversely, they may assume your ‘teachers’ and ‘nurses’ are women and that no term refers to nonbinary people.

To get around this, I suggest also using gendered nouns when referring to people whose job title readers may assume refer to men. In my Ruarnon Trilogy, the umbrella term for nonbinary genders is ‘midlun.’ So when referring to soldiers, I refer to ‘men, women and midluns’. In our world, you could refer to ‘men women and nonbinary people.’ Explicitly mentioning nonbinary people has the added bonus of implying that ‘men’ and ‘women’ both very much include trans men and trans women.

LGBTQIA+ Sexuality Inclusive Writing

This is simple. A character mentions having a crush on someone, dating someone, finding someone attractive or having a partner. Do you have other characters respond using gender neutral language, until they know the pronouns/ gender of the love interest/ partner?

This is not just gender diverse inclusive by not assigning gender on the basis of names. Its acknowledging that people of any gender can be attracted to any gender and that gay, lesbian, bi and pansexual identities exist and it challenges the idea that cis/heterosexual is the ‘norm.’

Your characters use of gender neutral language in reference to, and their interest in the love interest/partner suggests and normalise those characters acceptance of gay, lesbian, bisexual and pansexual relationships. A small gesture from you as a writer, that can mean a lot to readers within the LGBTQIA+ community.

Everyday Situations to Show Gender Inclusion

Gendered Bathrooms & Clothes Shops

If you’re a cis, binary gender writer, you may not yet feel ready to (having researched us), include nonbinary characters in your cast. But you can acknowledge the existence of nonbinary people, and help the world realise we exist without doing that.

Little things, like having a toilet with an icon of a person half in a dress and half in pants to signal a gender neutral toilet. Or including ‘Mx.’ as on option for titles in paperwork your characters fill in. Hell, you could go wild and have a department store with a gender neutral clothing section instead of Ladies-wear and Mens-ware only! (I would LOOOOOVVVVE this! Why on earth does clothing almost ALWAYs ‘have’ to be sold by binary gender? GAH!)

Gender Inclusive Character Introductions

Again, even if you have no trans or nonbinary characters, when characters meet new people in your fiction, have them mention their pronouns as well as their names. Having someone say, “Hey, I’m Tom, he/him” acknowledges that just because Tom’s biological sex is likely male doesn’t mean he is therefore, necessarily male. And when you stop assuming that, you signal the possibility that trans and nonbinary people exist. Suddenly we’re no longer invisible in the world of your writing.

Not Being Exclusive

Gender Roles/ Gendered Jobs

Try to be conscious of situations where characters take on gender roles, or are divided and required to act by gender. I don’t just mean go beyond sexist, heteronormative tropes like dad is the breadwinner, and mum is stay at home housewife (cue vomit). Be conscious of fields and jobs in our world (like front line soldiers, or in the Australian conservative political party, cabinet ministers) where women tend to be excluded and men to dominate.

If you’re going to have female sex workers, have male ones. Female strippers? Where are the naked men? Housewife? Where’s the house husband? Why are all the presidents men? Write more male teachers, nurses and happy, healthy fathers! Write women soldiers/ crime bosses, presidents etc. Have nonbinary characters do literally any job under the sun; because if we’re out, we’re not going to let biological sex get in our way!

Bottom line; consciously avoid limiting roles by gender! (Unless its your plot/ historical, BUT some people have ALWAYS defied binary gender norms –look at women pirates of the 19th and 20th centuries, for eg.)

Gender and Traditional Culture

In My Big Fat Wedding 3, there’s a scene where the bride asks women to line up on one side of the room and copy her dance, and the groom asks men to line up on his side and copy his dance. And I thought, but what will the nonbinary character do?

First they danced with the men and did the men’s dance. Then they switched to the women’s side and did the women’s dance. The other dancers were visibly fine with this. Its a great example of how characters in your story may adhere to traditional gender norms, but there can still be a place for gender nonconforming characters.

So if you have traditional gender roles in your writing, how will you create space for nonbinary and gender nonconforming people to exist in your fictional world?

Gendered Magic Systems

I’m a BIG fan of Wheel of Time and well aware it was written before it occurred to nonbinary people such as myself that we needn’t accept ill-fitting binary pronouns, nor conform to binary norms, nor had even heard the word ‘nonbinary’. So I don’t feel left out when women wield Saidar, and men wield Saidin and nonbinary people don’t seem to exist in the world the wheel weaves. But if you’re writing now, and planning a gendered magic system —don’t forget to think carefully how you’ll include gender nonconforming people!

How I Included Gender Diversity in Magic Orders

In my third novel (War in Sorcery’s Shadow), magic and its wielders live in hiding. Children who can wield magic are taught by secret organisations. Sorcery being first mastered during a sexist age, and used in violence against women, Luvaras Priests (Luvaras being god of sorcery) teach boys magic, and Luvaras Priestesses created a safe space to teach girls magic separately.

But if magical education is binary gendered, and gendered behaviours are encouraged because of the gender segregation of magical learning, what about kids who aren’t binary male or female? Who teaches them? So came a third order, The Devoted, adults of various nonbinary genders who educate children of similar identities. Unbound by binary notions of gender, these tend to be the most flexible, and some of the most highly skilled sorcerers on Umarinaris. (Also because many of them are neurodiverse, and or physically disabled).

My point being: consider situations where a scene may divide your characters by gender, and consciously create a space for nonbinary and gender nonconforming characters to be present as their authentic selves.

Situations where people relate to one another, select their clothes and otherwise behave according to binary gender ‘norms’ are when I feel most like a bystander, a visitor passing through (yes, I relate to Dr Who in this) in life and fiction. Its a big disconnect I’ve felt my whole life. And spending a moment to phrase a sentence gender inclusively, or mention a minor character’s nonbinary existence in passing can easily change that disconnection for your gender-nonconforming readers to a feeling of inclusion.

Writing Visible Trans Characters

I assume if you’re still reading, I assume you disagree with US states legislating gender diverse people out of existence and are concerned about respectfully representing trans people in your fiction. I’ve spoken to writers who’ve said, ‘I write my trans woman as a woman, because she’s a woman, but how do I show that she’s trans?’
If you don’t indicate she’s trans, let alone show it clearly, there’s every chance she’ll be cis-washed by cis readers who assume she’s yet another cis woman.

Trans Visibility

If your character has socially (and perhaps medically) transitioned and is living their best life presenting as their gender identity, how do you indicate that they are indeed trans? How do you respectfully let trans readers see themselves on the page and acknowledge and normalise the existence of trans characters in your writing? How do you do so in a way that feels natural to the story and doesn’t come across as forced?

It could be as simple as a pronoun slip. A character refers to your trans/ nonbinary character by the wrong binary pronoun, then apologises and corrects the pronoun. If the pronoun change occurred in recent years, you could even have another character comment about, ‘we’re all learning’, to indicate that characters are still adjusting to the trans character’s social transition.

What if you want to be more explicit, and ensure that trans presences in your work are indeed seen, and not cis-gender washed? You could go further, as Dr Who did with Donna’s trans daughter Rose. In a scene where boys are teasing Rose as she enters her house, Donna’s mother says to Donna, ‘They didn’t pick on him when he was– sorry.’ Thus Rose’s trans identity is explicitly shown, in a respectful manner.

For more on writing trans characters, see this great advice by Charlie Jane.

Nonbinary Visibility

This can also be as simple to reveal as a pronoun slip. When my nonbinary character Ruarnon meets a foreign dignitary who refers to Ruarnon as ‘he’, Ruarnon’s advisor says, ‘their Benevelonce uses they.’ For people who are ‘up’ with pronouns, its clear we’re dealing with a nonbinary character.

The catch is, I came out as nonbinary in 2020 and had a complete stranger politely respond to my public request to be referred to as they/them by saying, ‘I’m not sure what that means.’ This amounted to, ‘I don’t know what ‘nonbinary’ means.’ My family and colleagues response was pretty much, ‘We like/ love you, but we don’t really get what nonbinary is.’

So how can writers explicitly and respectfully signal that a character is nonbinary (and perhaps what that could mean)? And how will this be relevant to the story?

Nonbinary Visibility and Inclusive Language

This is where inclusive language choices come in. When you are referring to a crowd, consider how you refer not just to ‘men and women’ or ‘ladies and gentleman.’ In my Ruarnon Trilogy, I invented a word for nonbinary (midlun) and when naming genders I state; men, women AND midluns.

If there’s a show, consider ‘ladies, gentlemen and friends beyond the binary,’ or if you’re North American, ‘guys, gals and nonbinary pals.’ Consider, ‘colleagues,’ ‘friends’, ‘folks’, ‘people’ or a gender inclusive term instead of ‘ladies’ when its a group of women and one nonbinary person, or vice versa with men. (Every time people at work address me and female colleagues as ‘ladies’ I have to remind myself that they include me in that term, because I’ve never seen myself in it and would otherwise feel excluded by it).

Beyond that, if your they/them has a beard and is wearing a dress, or doesn’t wear make up when everyone else expects them to, or pairs a ‘men’s’ top with a ‘women’s’ skirt or makes gender ambiguous clothing choices —we’ll get the picture. Especially with gender inclusive language and nonbinary pronouns in use (whether it be they/them pronouns or neo pronouns like ne/nir).

Asexual Visibility

Again, I’m flagging this individually as a lesser known queer identity, in this case one the asexuals I know often feel writers get wrong. A common mistake seems to labelling a character as ‘asexual’ and then having them behave like an allosexual person. If you want to write an asexual character, the first thing you need to do is know that asexual (like ‘nonbinary’) is an umbrella term and will present in different ways for different asexual people.

So when it comes to actually showing an asexual character, you might show them date someone and become very emotionally attached before showing any signs of being sexually attracted to them (demisexual). You may have a character who will read/ view a sex scene but expresses disinterest in having sex with another person (aegosexual). You may write a character who expresses no interest in sexual or romantic relationships and is perfectly content with the platonic relationships in their life (*waves in aromantic asexual*).

If you don’t know much about asexuality or writing asexual characters, The Asexual Awareness and Education Centre is a good place to start.

Bi and Pansexual Visibility

To step out of my lane for a moment, don’t be the heterosexual writer who writes ‘bisexual’ or ‘pansexual’ characters who only ever demonstrate attraction to, or interest in, the opposite biological sex. Absolutely, your bisexual or pansexual character could be a woman in a long-term, monogamous relationship with a man, or vice versa (and yes, still totally bi/ pan). But if you only write that character attracted to or showing interest in people of the opposite biological sex (and their life isn’t endangered by demonstrating queer attraction); you’re mislabelling a heterosexual character ‘bisexual/ pansexual’/ or just plain misrepresenting bi/pansexual people.

Writing outside your identity means writing outside your personal life experience. It means questioning every assumption and thing you personally consider ‘normal’. For queer identities, this can mean throwing everything you know/ assume/ have personally experienced about gender, sexual and romantic attraction out the window. Don’t forget to step out of your shoes, before trying to step into those of a character from a different identity to yours.

Queer Character and Relationship Visibility & Queer Normative

If you haven’t explicitly decided whether settings in your book are going to be queer normative, queer positive or trans/homophobic, now is the time to decide. Will it be safe for recognisably queer couples to engage in public displays of affection? Will your same-sex couples dance intimately together on the public dance floor? Will they kiss at sunset on the beach? Will you have a same-sex married couple(s) or marriage?

What spaces are publicly out trans and nonbinary people seen and known to occupy? Which positions and which institutions are trans, nobinary and recognisable characters of all LGBTQIA+ identities employed in? The level of LGBTQIA+ normativeness/ acceptance etc can be clearly indicated by these things. (Same can be asked and shown of women characters and levels of sexism in your society).

Queer Normative Representation in Speculative Fiction

If you’re writing speculative fiction, this is where you can say ‘yes’ to all of the above. Heck, you can write a world where whenever a character mentions being attracted to someone or having a partner, no one makes assumptions about that person’s gender.

You can write a world in which no one refers to a child using binary pronouns until that child has decided and articulated which pronouns fit them (and in which everyone respects that child changing their mind, because its for the individual to identify their gender, not for society to impose gender on anyone).

If only the heterosexual couple get to kiss, you’ve normalised that, but are you also normalising the idea that queer couples don’t (or shouldn’t) display affection for each other? Or are you writing a queer couple in a way that homophobic readers can easily interpret as ‘just friends’, thus erasing their queer identities?

If you genuinely want to write inclusively I’m sure the above is not your intention. The problem is the above interpretations align with age-old prejudices and are easy for readers to make, if there is a double standard in how you present marginalised vs. non-marginalised sexualities. So be conscious of times when you treat a marginalised character differently (in anyway, full stop), how you’re treating them differently and clear on your purpose in doing so.

Inclusive Fiction Examples

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 has a nonbinary mayor who is the epitome of queer joy, and a perfect example of letting a character be their authentic queer self and other characters being cool with it.

Umbrella Academy (Netflix) has a trans and a nonbinary pansexual main character, who just happen to be two of seven siblings at the centre of the world’s destruction. Its also in the ‘be gay, do crime’ genre, trans Victor being very troubled and destructive, and Klaus a (recovering) drug addict. This is a great example of how when characters just happen to be marginalised, they can also happen to be anything else. (Fall of the House of Usher takes ‘be gay, do crime’ to even greater extremes, though serious dark horror warning on that one).

Imperfects (Netflix) does double duty with an asexual character whose sexuality is initially shown through her taste in skin-covering, not-too-clingy clothing, who’s romantically attracted to women.

People To Help You Write The Other

Find Sensitivity Readers or Editors

Bisexual/ Pansexual/ Fluidity Sensitivity Readers Spreadsheet (lists emails of 100+ sensitivity readers, courtesy of @saltandsagebook).

As with other marginalised identities, post on whichever social media you use, and or search posts for sensitivity readers (I’ve seen a few offering their services on Bsky).