Harems are easy to write, authors are just lazy

[MakBow]

I'll say it: Harems are the easiest thing to write, the authors who write them are just lazy.

I mean COME ON!
Free characters!
With no effort to get them in the harem!
And you're telling me you can't just add ONE conflict they have?
I'm telling you; harems are literally a free pass of characters, so you don't need to put effort into keeping them around for any reason other than liking the MC and that is so easy because adding conflict to a character is easy TOO.
Family problems.
No confidence in themselves.
The whole shebang.

Edit: You can have the trash, just add some spice on it)

 

[Fairemont]

I don't know, man. I tried to write an authentic harem once. But writing a legitimate 2k+ women Chinese harem with all the skullduggery and back-stabbing nonsense is more work than you'd think.

 

[Envylope]

If it's easy then do it and make money from it.

 

[MakBow]

If it's easy then do it and make money from it.

Oh trust me, I will, one day, after I finish my current novel

 

[Envylope]

Oh trust me, I will, one day, after I finish my current novel

I will be waiting to see your results.

 

[Tabula_Rasa]

All terrible things are easy to write.
All good things are hard.

Genre, tags, archetypes none of it have any bearing.

Trash harem stories take trash level effort
Quality power fantasy takes quality level effort.

It easy to live as a dumbass. Hard to live if you know too much.

That's why ignorance is bliss.

Live free, be a fucking moron.

 

[Corty]

Can I blow your mind?

There are no conflicts within the harem genre, because if there are, then it's not a harem. You see, a harem works when the girls are amicable with each other and are there for the MC. The moment that the ecosystem is disturbed, the member should and would be ejected, because it disturbs the peace and equilibrium. Which MC would put up with always having to deal with issues with their harem and their bitching? None.

If you want to look for drama caused by a harem, you need to watch Korean/Chinese imperial dramas and stuff. Where the story is centered around the powerplays in an imperial harem to make their own heir the next emperor.

But don't look for that in regular harem stories, because it's simply not what a harem is for.

 

[MakBow]

All terrible things are easy to write.
All good things are hard.

Genre, tags, archetypes none of it have any bearing.

Trash harem stories take trash level effort
Quality power fantasy takes quality level effort.

It easy to live as a dumbass. Hard to live if you know too much.

That's why ignorance is bliss.

Live free, be a fucking moron.

I agree, I shall live as a moron.

Can I blow your mind?

There are no conflicts within the harem genre, because if there are, then it's not a harem. You see, a harem works when the girls are amicable with each other and are there for the MC. The moment that the ecosystem is disturbed, the member should and would be ejected, because it disturbs the peace and equilibrium. Which MC would put up with always having to deal with issues with their harem and their bitching? None.

If you want to look for drama caused by a harem, you need to watch Korean/Chinese imperial dramas and stuff. Where the story is centered around the powerplays in an imperial harem to make their own heir the next emperor.

But don't look for that in regular harem stories, because it's simply not what a harem is for.

Never said it had to be caused by the harem. You can literally have some family member come in a freak everything up (100 Girlfriends & How not to Summon the Demon King) and I mean, Jobless Reincarnation also has harem with conflict sooooo.....

 

[TinaMigarlo]

@Fairemont :
A good harem should have multiple monthly casualties due to poisons and other "accidents". There's a reason there are so many women in the harem.

disposable sluts. classy.
lol

 

[Fairemont]

Can I blow your mind?

There are no conflicts within the harem genre, because if there are, then it's not a harem. You see, a harem works when the girls are amicable with each other and are there for the MC. The moment that the ecosystem is disturbed, the member should and would be ejected, because it disturbs the peace and equilibrium. Which MC would put up with always having to deal with issues with their harem and their bitching? None.

If you want to look for drama caused by a harem, you need to watch Korean/Chinese imperial dramas and stuff. Where the story is centered around the powerplays in an imperial harem to make their own heir the next emperor.

But don't look for that in regular harem stories, because it's simply not what a harem is for.

A good harem should have multiple monthly casualties due to poisons and other "accidents". There's a reason there are so many women in the harem.

 

[Corty]

Never said it had to be caused by the harem. You can literally have some family member come in a freak everything up (100 Girlfriends & How not to Summon the Demon King) and I mean, Jobless Reincarnation also has harem with conflict sooooo.....

That's not harem issue, that's relantionship issue...

Especially because if everything that you want as a conflict can be applied to a regular relationship between two people, then it's not a harem-exclusive thing.

 

[Fairemont]

I actually played a live-acted Chinese harem game recently, where you are a woman in the harem and trying to survive.

Soup! So... so much soup...

 

[MakBow]

I actually played a live-acted Chinese harem game recently, where you are a woman in the harem and trying to survive.

Soup! So... so much soup...

...........what's it called?
Asking for a friend.

 

[TinaMigarlo]

But don't look for that in regular harem stories, because it's simply not what a harem is for.

then what's it for. Literary ecchi titty moments, I guess. covers are always cute lolli's in lingerie. Looks like gooner-lite genre.
but I ain't agreeing with OP.
if it was that easy, he'd have a patreon account chock full of sweet patreon bucks, showing it off.
and if it was that easy, everyone would be cashing in.

look, they say the same thing about smut, fetish erotica. Heard that one a millio0n times,
"that ain't evben writing. just imagibne a porno clip, and type it out. stupid."
harder than it looks, to do it well though.

i figure this is the same. Just looks easy.
hell, anything's like that. when a pro does it, it always looks easy.

 

[Fairemont]

...........what's it called?
Asking for a friend.

I'll have to check when I get home. It was a genuinely good game.

I committed soupicide like 90 times.

 

[GwynLordofTinder]

Idk man, I feel like conflict is what make these worth reading/writing, although admittedly I'm more partial to a polycule vibe.

 

[Snake99]

It's not easy; writing charismatic characters and good ecchi scenes requires talent.

 

[Th3Breadnought]

Maybe someone else said it, and no judgement, but could it be that many of the writers of harems write while horny, and are operating with more limited bandwidth? You can type with one hand, but you can't think clearly with redirected blood flow.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

Harems are the easiest thing to write, the authors who write them are just lazy.

I would argue that. It is easy to write, but it is difficult to write well.

As you start adding more and more characters, you need to eat up significant word counts to develop their character. This increases the complexity of your writing to accommodate all the characters. Trying to balance the writing so it reads well and is at least somewhat plausible is quite difficult.

Most of what I have read isn't done well at all. It slowly becomes 'every hole is a goal.'

Character development becomes superficial at best, and as soon as one girl (or boy, or small furry creature from Alpha Centauri, whatever) has been conquered, they are put on the back burner as the MC moves onto their next conquest.

I made that mistake in My F-Grade Reincarnation and failed horribly at having any real character development... trying to do it a much better way in The Deity Entertainment Network, but it takes a lot of extra word count to pull it off.

 

[Anonjohn20]

There are multiple traps that a harem story can fall into.

Trap 1: Too many love interests. Or some of the love interests not being fleshed out enough.
If your readers are begging you to make a glossary and keep it up to date, then you have too many girls after MC; if the readers can't tell the girls apart, then they have personalities that are too similar. Making a new girl is easy; making her relevant and memorable to the story is hard.

Trap 2: The MC is a piece of wet cardboard (roast borrowed from Tempokai). Making lots of people get interested in the MC is one thing, but some authors struggle to make an MC worth loving. This one is funny because readers have a pretty wide suspension of disbelief when it comes to this, so the authors messing this one up should probably scrap the entire work. You don't need to make the MC perfect, but when readers are struggling to believe the connection is genuine and not forced, you've fucked up.

Trap 3: No emotional turbulence. Not every lover wants the same thing in life, so it's pretty unrealistic when every romantic interest becomes a puppet that will just do whatever the MC wants and has no will of their own. Some romantic interests wanted an exclusive relationship and must now be coaxed into the harem (or in some cases they'll refuse to join it); some wanted to be the main lover that was higher up in the hierarchy, while some wanted to be with MC and will gladly sit below the main lover; some want to be mothers, while others avoid raising kids; some selfish lovers will demand daily attention, while others will be okay with a visit every month, etc. This is most commonly seen when the lovers have no goals outside loving the protagonist.