Harem clikbait for a rom-com story?

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Hello, thanks for taking your time reading this, and sorry for the long post in advance! So, I have this one story I want to write for a while. Nothing new or original, just another rom-com story with dual perspective from the both protagonists.

Here are some more details, even though no one asked, if you're not interested then skip directly to the last paragraph.

So, basically, the story is mainly about a boy and a girl who have similar past, but quite different personalities. The boy looks like a girl with long hair and feminine features (more accurately, a trap), while the girl is really tall and athletic (a tomboy).

The boy's mom (a typical anime milf) was an actress, but she quit acting when she caught her husband having an affair with a fellow actress, who's supposed to be her best friend too. She divorced him, changed her surname, and moved back to her hometown with her son. But, not before exposing her “best friend” and husband and ruining their monday morning. The milf (let's call her that for the sake of convenience), made sure to raise her own son, the trap boy, differently from other guys. As in a kind, polite, and loyal individual (read wife material), who knows how to cook, but he also became shy and socially awkward as a result.

Meanwhile, the tomboy girl, who conveniently lives in the same town, has a similar backstory (what a coincidence!). She had to provide for her little siblings and sick mother (another milf) when her father, uhh... Just disappeared into the thin air, I guess? That's why she did many part-time jobs after school, and gained more muscle than the trap boy is every going to get in his future training arc.

Fast forward, the tomboy girl causally saves the trap boy from his potential pursuer, the poor middle aged man who mistakes the trap boy for a girl and gets beaten up by the crowd, and the trap boy falls for her on the spot due to her coolness. However, due to his cuteness, the tomboy girl mistakes him for a girl, and cheerfully offers him a job at the place she was working at. Since, they were lacking in the staff. The tomboy girl is a senior student, while the trap guy is a junior, so they wouldn't be seeing each other in their uniforms for a short while. Even then, the tomboy girl thinks that the trap boy is actually a girl wearing a boy's uniform as a some kind of cross-dressing hobby.

The story is about the trap boy falling for the tomboy girl and he tries his best to impress her, within his limited word count. But, each time, due to the curious coincidences, the trap boy ends up looking more like a cute and shy girl, and he starts to become more like a female bestie for the tomboy girl despite his wishes.

Sorry for that long description. Now, there are many potential female heroines around the protagonist (I'm talking about the tomboy girl here), which kind of makes the story look like a harem for a short while. In reality, it's more like a ecchi rom-com story with slight yuri tropes (since the trap boy looks like a girl).

From my research, I noticed that the new stories tagged as “harem” generally tend to get more views than stories tagged as “rom-com” or “slice of life”. So, I'm wondering if I should shamelessly tag my story as a harem when I upload it, in the attempt of a clikbait, even though the actual story is a highschool rom-com poorly disguised as an ecchi yuri story?

Again, I'm very sorry for the long post, and I don't have any potatoes either. Thank you so much!
trap-smile (1).gif

Edit: I've decided to go with the tomboy girl gets a harem ending route (around three girls and the trap boy included) after all. So, I guess all that would finally make harem tag possible.
 
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AYM

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From my research, I noticed that the new stories tagged as “harem” generally tend to get more views than stories tagged as “rom-com” or “slice of life”. So, I'm wondering if I should shamelessly tag my story as a harem, in the attempt of a clikbait, even though the actual story is a highschool rom-com poorly disguised as a ecchi yuri story?
No. Tag your stories what they are.
Don't add unrelated tags because you want more views. This is a way you can get heavily downvoted.

Definition for Harem genre on SH:
A series involving one male character and many female characters (usually attracted to the male character). A Reverse Harem is when the genders are reversed.

Now, there are many potential female heroines around the protagonist (I'm talking about the tomboy girl here), which kind of makes the story look like a harem for a short while.
If it is only a short while, I wouldn't add it. I'd only consider adding the tag if they had a more significant role.
Your description sounds like the small fry who swoon over a main character in chapter 1-5 and afterward are never mentioned.
 
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Thank you for your reply!
No. Tag your stories what they are.
Don't add unrelated tags because you want more views. This is a way you can get heavily downvoted.
I'm very sorry, I didn't considered that one in my greed. I kind of got carried away with getting more views.
If it is only a short while, I wouldn't add it. I'd only consider adding the tag if they had a more significant role.
Your description sounds like the small fry who swoon over a main character in chapter 1-5 and afterward are never mentioned.
Technically, the extra characters hang out around the main cast until the very end, they do have a significant role, but the harem situation with the tomboy girl is kind of wrapped up earlier than one would expect. So, I guess, you are right.
 
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tiaf

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Those who seek a rom-com monogamy will not click on harem vice versa.
 
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Not gonna lie, feels kinda sus now.
I know right. I just couldn't abandon other characters to their unknown fates, so harem it was. Just for the records, you are talking about the tomboy girl having a harem, right?
Did I understand this correctly? Girl would get a reverse harem?
I'm sorry, I messed up a bit while writing that. It feels like I'm having some kind of dumb streak. I misunderstood the definition of a reverse harem. What I meant to say was, the tomboy girl gets all the female heroines and the trap boy at the end of the story. As in a yuri harem ending (but the trap boy is a guy, so I don't know).
Those who seek a rom-com monogamy will not click on harem vice versa.
Well, I didn't thought of that one at the time. But now, the story is actually a harem, so I guess it works out.
 
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RepresentingWrath

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I'm sorry, I messed up a bit while writing that. It feels like I'm having some kind of dumb streak. I misunderstood the definition of a reverse harem. What I meant to say was, the tomboy girl gets all the female heroines and the trap boy at the end of the story. As in a yuri harem ending (but the trap boy is a guy, so I don't know).
Yuri lovers don't like straight. Not all of them, but a lot don't like it.
 
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Yuri lovers don't like straight. Not all of them, but a lot don't like it.
Um, is that true? I don't read lots of yuri novels myself. If so, maybe I should have wrote the trap boy as a girl from the very beginning, but then the story wouldn't be intresting anymore. I was hoping to write some “boy gets mistaken as a girl” misunderstanding tropes too.
 
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RepresentingWrath

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Um, is that true? I don't read lots of yuri novels myself. If so, maybe I should have wrote the the trap boy as a girl from the very beginning, but then the story wouldn't be intresting anymore. I was hoping to write some “boy gets mistaken as a girl” misunderstanding tropes too.
A very, very small minority of GL novels here include male love interest, but I don't have stats for that. It would be better to make a separate thread, and ask GL lovers. SH forums are non-representative, but it's better than nothing.
 
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A very, very small minority of GL novels here include male love interest, but I don't have stats for that. It would be better to make a separate thread, and ask GL lovers. SH forums are non-representative, but it's better than nothing.
It’s true. I thought of including a straight romance in a coming of age story before the character knows her sexuality, but I can’t see that going over well with a the GL audience.
 
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I thought of including a straight romance in a coming of age story before the character knows her sexuality, but I can’t see that going over well with a the GL audience.
Well, I already posted a thread on the reader's general, but I guess I won't get that many replies on that. In the end, maybe the trap boy would have to go on F1NN5TER route.
 

RepresentingWrath

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Btw, if MC is a tomboy, you can tag it with bisexual protagonist. And now that I think about it, it is probably the answer to your problem. Cause if femboy is MC, then it stops being a harem. For a story to have harem or reverse harem MC has to have a harem, MC can't be part of it. If MC is part of a harem it turns into poly or something.
 
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Btw, if MC is a tomboy, you can tag it with bisexual protagonist. And now that I think about it, it is probably the answer to your problem. Cause if femboy is MC, then it stops being a harem. For a story to have harem or reverse harem MC has to have a harem, MC can't be part of it. If MC is part of a harem it turns into poly or something.
To be honest, I'm both confused and impressed by your suggestion (as I've said, looks like I'm on a dumb streak). I will write down your advice with other endings, before proceeding to understand what you are saying. Thanks again, stranger!
 
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