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Blog›Bisexual Stories — Fiction Across the Orientation Spectrum

Bisexual Stories — Fiction Across the Orientation Spectrum

SmutLib Editorial··6 min read
bisexualbiMMFbi-curiousLGBTQorientationerotica

Bisexual fiction depicts characters who experience attraction to multiple genders, with the bisexuality itself as meaningful element of the narrative rather than incidental detail. Around 300 people search "bisexual stories" monthly. The subgenre occupies specific territory — distinct from gay fiction, distinct from straight fiction, and often underserved by both. Bisexual characters in fiction frequently get reduced to either "secretly gay" or "experimenting straight" rather than depicted as genuinely bisexual, which is exactly why dedicated bisexual fiction has developed its own reader community and conventions.

What makes bisexual fiction a distinct category rather than just "erotica featuring bi characters" is the specific engagement with bisexuality as identity and experience. The fiction explores what it means to be attracted to multiple genders — the specific dynamics, the specific complications, the specific pleasures that bisexuality involves.

What Does Bisexual Fiction Specifically Cover?

The subgenre contains several distinct branches:

Bi-discovery fiction. Characters realizing or accepting their bisexuality. The discovery arc — first same-gender attraction, first same-gender experience, integrating the new understanding with existing identity. Among the most popular configurations.

MMF fiction with genuine male bisexuality. Threesome stories featuring two men and one woman where the men engage with each other as well as with the woman. Distinct from MFM fiction (where the men don't interact with each other). The male bisexuality is the specific content. Growing rapidly in commercial romance.

Bi characters in established relationships. Characters who are bisexual within committed relationships — navigating what their orientation means when they're with one partner. Specific relational content.

Bi-curious exploration fiction. Characters exploring same-gender attraction without certainty about their orientation. The exploration itself is the narrative.

Bi representation in group scenarios. Bisexual characters in group sex erotica, threesome fiction, or hotwife scenarios where the bisexuality enables specific configurations.

Bi characters in D/s dynamics. Bisexual characters within BDSM contexts where orientation affects the power dynamics or scene configurations.

Coming out fiction. Characters coming out as bisexual — to partners, family, community. The specific challenges of bisexual coming-out (biphobia from both straight and gay communities) as narrative content.

Bi romance. Full romantic arcs centered on bisexual characters, where the orientation shapes the romance rather than just providing one partner's backstory.

What Are the Representation Questions?

Bisexual fiction navigates specific representation challenges:

Bisexual erasure. The tendency to categorize bisexual characters as either gay or straight depending on their current partner. Quality bisexual fiction maintains the character's bisexuality regardless of who they're currently with.

The "phase" framing. Fiction that treats bisexuality as a phase on the way to being gay — character starts bi, ends up exclusively same-gender. This erases bisexuality as stable identity. Better fiction depicts bisexuality as its own complete orientation.

Hypersexualization. The stereotype that bisexual people are inherently more sexual, more promiscuous, or more available. Some bi fiction reinforces this; better fiction depicts bisexual characters with the same range of sexual patterns as any other characters.

Biphobia from all directions. Bisexual characters facing skepticism or hostility from both straight and gay communities. Fiction engaging with this reality produces more grounded work than fiction that ignores it.

Authentic voice. Bisexual readers can immediately tell whether fiction about bisexuality was written by someone who understands the experience versus someone working from stereotypes. Authentic voice matters to the dedicated reader base.

These representation questions don't mean fiction must be perfectly representative — fiction can depict any experience. But writers aware of these dynamics produce more sophisticated work.

How Does Bisexual Fiction Differ from Gay or Lesbian Fiction?

The distinction matters because bisexual readers often feel underserved by both:

Gay/lesbian fiction typically centers same-gender attraction exclusively. Characters who are attracted to the same gender and only the same gender.

Bisexual fiction centers the experience of attraction to multiple genders. The "multiple" is the point — the character's relationship to the full spectrum of their attraction.

The overlap zone. Some fiction works the boundary — characters who are "mostly gay" or "mostly straight" with specific exceptions. This territory produces interesting fiction but can also produce bi erasure if the bisexuality isn't acknowledged as such.

Reader community distinction. Bisexual readers often specifically seek fiction where their orientation is named and engaged with rather than subsumed into either gay or straight categories.

Where Does Bisexual Fiction Live?

Archive Of Our Own has the best bisexual fiction infrastructure — specific tags for bisexual characters, M/M/F configurations, bi-discovery narratives. AO3's tagging precision helps bisexual readers find specifically bi-centered fiction. AO3 erotica covers the platform.

Literotica has bisexual content across its categories, though dedicated bisexual categorization is less developed than AO3's tagging.

Commercial MMF romance. The MMF romance category on Amazon has grown substantially. Books specifically featuring bisexual male characters in threesome romantic arcs have become commercially viable. Kindle Unlimited has growing MMF catalog.

SmutLib hosts bisexual fiction across categories.

LGBTQ fiction communities. Dedicated bi-inclusive fiction communities, bi-specific anthologies, bi-focused publishers.

BookTok has growing bisexual book recommendation communities.

What Are the Craft Considerations?

Writing bisexual fiction well involves specific awareness:

Name the bisexuality. Characters who are attracted to multiple genders but never identify as bisexual read as erasure to bi readers. If the character is bi, let them know it and name it.

Attraction to multiple genders shown, not just stated. The character's attraction to different genders should be evident in the fiction — through specific moments, specific responses, specific scenes — not just mentioned in backstory.

Bisexuality as ongoing identity. The character doesn't stop being bisexual when they enter a relationship. Their orientation persists regardless of current partner configuration.

Specific bi experience. The particular experience of bisexuality — code-switching between communities, the "not gay enough / not straight enough" dynamic, specific dating-pool considerations. Fiction engaging with these specifics produces more authentic work.

Avoiding the "bi means threesome" reduction. Bisexual characters can be in threesome fiction, but bisexuality shouldn't be reduced to "the thing that enables threesomes." The orientation is an identity, not a plot device for group sex.

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