So I'm thinking of making a BL comic but I want my main character to be more like me so in turn I want to make him bi but does this still qualify as BL since the series will at times have him dating a girl because from what I've seen in the BL genre it's always boy on boy and nothing in between
Mar '19
Mar '19
(Not that I know too much on the subject since I don't really read any BL stuff, but..)
I think.. if the bigger focus and end result is a whole bunch of dude on dude romantic action, it's a BL. Make your character bi if ya want~
The thing about the BL genre is that it is changing over time to show other LGBT+ elements. A lot of the BL we see still cling to a lot of the stereotypes that were dominate in the genre. It's why we still have this old debate about "why BL is popular" and yada yada yada.
But presently, a lot of Boy Love stories have guys who are not entirely gay. They're pansexual, bisexual, transmen, asexual, etc.
So even if your main character is bisexual, and even if his main romance and main romantic development is with another guy, it still counts as BL. But, if your story is not fully centered around his romantic development, or if it has more to it than the romance, you could mark it LGBT+
Course, it can help a little bit more to have more creators who work with BL and LGBT+ comics chime in on this. But the fact of the matter is that the genre overall is more than the stereotypes you see.
As long as the eventual romantic focus is between two guys, its totally fine. Many fans of BL are also fans of LGBT+ focused stories in general. So yeah, please include bi characters!
Bisexuality still includes same-gender attraction. If it's got a major romance between two guys it's BL regardless.
Well my initial idea is about a boy who is attempting to prevent his boyfriend from committing suicide by changing the past, but it then starts changing everything about their relationship
So it's a Sci-fi story with queer characters. Great! We need more stories protagonized by the queer comunity that doesn't just revolve around their sexuality/gender 
The themes would be in that order of importance?
Subject: "Traveling to the past to change the present of someone I love"
Problem: "My boyfriend attempted suicide."
Second problem: "Change the past is changing the present... in a way I didn't want".
Where does enter the part of him dating girls? 
Bottom line (from my understanding) is that Boy's Love is a romance between two guys. They don't necessarily have to be gay, but there does need to be some sort of connection going beyond just friendship.
TBH I haven't really worked that part out LOL as this idea is a fairly new comic idea that I thought of about a week ago, as of right now I don't know how I'm gonna work the idea of him being bi into the story
Then tag it BL.
The story is not about "me, bisexual, dating boys and girls and how it comes", since the only thing that matters for the plot is that he has a boyfriend and want to do something to help him 
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Being bi is something you can mention, as a memory for example, like "because of him I discovered I was bisexual". And after that it may happen strange things, like change the past and end up in the present dating another girl instead of him. That would be heartbreaking, BL lovers would cherish it.
But the plot's on you. From what you tell me, that must be BL, no matter so much who he feels attraction for, but the fact that he's with a man (even if is a trans man) and love him to the point of changing the past and play with the World of Alternatives of the Real World. That's a huge theme to a story, dude! 
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In my current novel, one of the main character is bi. I don't need to think about it. I just made it clear from the beginning.
I have read tons of yaois where boys used to date girls or were strongly convinced they're straight until a couple chapters later they switch to dating boys, so... if the goal of the comic is to focus on two male characters having a romatic relationship, it's BL then.
I think xablemind has summed it up pretty well - but I'd like to add, the most important thing about your work is making a narrative that you like, and that you feel you need to tell. Having a Bi character, and depicting them in relationships with various genders / sexes seems like it's important to you, so I wouldn't throw that away in an attempt to fit a label.
@Chrispykreme, BL is not precisely the kind of label that stops you from do what you want 
"I used to think there was some sort of requirement for BL to be all lovey-dovey and have happy endings with a moderate amount of sex. (...) Other than the fact that it’s “a relationship between guys,” I discovered that it’s a genre where pretty much anything goes."
Harada (one of my favourite BL mangakas, be careful, they create really harsh works)
Having a bi as a protagonist won't make any difference on it being a BL, it will be more on how @CallMeMattheww runs the plot. Noone will blame a scifi queer story for being labeled on BL on a place like Tapas, cause that label is pretty much the place where everything minimun related with queer and LGBT themes end up.
The day Tapas allow to put more labels, the site will set on fire -evil laugh-.
No, now seriously, it may be difficult to label a story that doesn't fit with the prototype of a concrete label, but makes those labels embrace more variety enriching the label and its readers, showing that BL can be more than "two gay guys discovering their mutual love".
Let it be BL, but free above all, @CallMeMattheww
But how about "Am I dating my clone from the future past?!" Where boy 1 meets boy 1 clone from the future who went to the past to stop boy 1 from the past but was hijacked by past boy 1, who goes to the future to clone himself instead, so when boy 1 clone meets with boy 1 to stop boy 1 past, they get intercepted by past boy 1 clone, who was sent by past boy 1 from the future. Is it a clone? Is it a boy? Will boy 1 find his love in the clone boys of future past?!
.
I'm sorry I don't know why I found your reply so amusing. I'll take my leave
And here we have why @CallMeMattheww will gonna suffer with a story that implies time travel 
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