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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/38343
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I have a character who is assumed to be straight, but after a few months reveals herself to be bisexual.

I don't want her to just come out of nowhere and say that without any kind of hints first because a) it would seem unnatural that there are no signals being sent at all, and b) it would feel sloppy and even like you retconned this onto the character after the fact. As she's being written from the start with this reveal in mind this would be a pretty big failure.

By the same token, however, I don't want to make it too obvious before the reveal, as I still want it to be a surprise to most readers when the reveal happens, but that if they then go back and look at what they've already seen they could realise that there have been clues to it all along.

I'm just having trouble at coming up with ways to do it.

One aspect of the character that already exists and I think I could use is the fact that she's a David Bowie fan. I'm just not sure if I could or should use this as a hint, or how I would go about it if I did. I also would want for there to be more than one hint dropped. I did think that she could maybe admit to having crushes on male celebrities known for being effeminate but that seems like it might carry a few unfortunate implications (while she's bisexual she's also not promiscuous, which I know is an unfortunate stereotype that tends to get associated with bisexuality in fiction).

So basically, I'd really appreciate any help with this that you can offer. How can I hint at a character's sexuality so it will seem more natural when it's later revealed officially, but do it in a natural way that's subtle enough that people could miss it but realise the clues were there in retrospect? How do I do it in a way that's not unintentionally offensive to the LGBTQ+ community? Are there any good examples out there that I could look to for inspiration? I have been looking around but most of what I found was fans "shipping" characters that they like, in some cases with little reason to believe from the source material that such pairings are remotely likely (Not that I'm knocking people who enjoy doing that! Just pointing out that it's making it harder for me to research this topic).

Original score: 7