What are your honest thoughts on harem stories?

[Deleted member 84247]

MOOOOOOOOOOO!

Real men have harems.

And they aren't ashamed of it.

Nor will they pretend to be.

And the cows are happier that way too.

Milk and cheese for all.

Just ask them.

Moo.

Real men can take it and give it, or so I'm told by real men.

 

[JayMark]

Mormans do harems IRL.

Though it's less more mans and more more womans.

 

[Piisfun]

Mormans do harems IRL.

Though it's less more mans and more more womans.

No. They don't.
Any individual practicing polygamy that claims to be a "Mormon," or more properly a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is in direct violation of doctrine and policy.
It was done in the past, but it is not today, and has not been practiced since 1890.

 

[JayMark]

Well, now I've lost all respect for them.

 

[Alfir]

After reading along the thread, I realize men could really have vastly different tastes. I, for one, enjoyed Nisekoi.

 

[Supperset]

I read everything except ntr, tapey and parady

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Counterpoint: If you keep the same number of females in the story, then you'd need to write double the characters. But if you keep the same number of characters in the story (that is, plan the story with an even number of males and females), then it's going to be the same amount of character development anyway. If anything, you could argue it would be less work: if you have N characters, it's only N/2 romantic pairings you have to write as opposed to the N-1 romantic pairings you'd get in a standard harem.

I don't understand your math, so let me show you some math of my own.

There are 5 girls I want to write about. 5 love interests. No, they can't be from support cast, for secondary characters I have other ideas. So I have 5 love interests. That means I have to write 5 stories, 5 web novels. Let's say a web novel is roughly 300 chapters long. This means I have to write roughly 1500 chapters.

Now, my day consists of my work ans sleep obviously. Apart from those mandatory activities, I have to cook, as I don't have enough money to order food all the time, plus it's less healthy, I exercise 6 times a week. I also have to socialize with my friends, and family. In the future I would love to learn how to draw as well.

The question is, how long will it take me to write 1500 chapters with this schedule? Now the cherry on top, I prefer longer stories, which means my web novel will be around 600 chapters, and I have around 20 love interests. So I need to write 12000 chapters. How long will it take me to write this amount? I don't know what kind of counterpoint this is bruv.

 

[laccoff_mawning]

I don't understand your math, so let me show you some math of my own.

There are 5 girls I want to write about. 5 love interests. No, they can't be from support cast, for secondary characters I have other ideas. So I have 5 love interests. That means I have to write 5 stories, 5 web novels. Let's say a web novel is roughly 300 chapters long. This means I have to write roughly 1500 chapters.

I'll try and explain then.

So you want to write 5 girls in. Well, I'm assuming you have a male MC so that's 6 characters. If you go the harem route, you have 5 relationships to write, so that's five stories. If we assume that each is 300 chapters long, that's 1500 chapters for the harem route.

So now we try the non-harem route, keeping the number of main characters the same, as opposed to the number of girls. You have 6 main characters, so that becomes 3 girls and 3 guys. You only have 3 relationships to write, so that's 900 chapters, which is 600 chapters shorter.

Now, in reality, you don't spend all 300 chapters talking about just relationships; the difference between the writing amounts is going to be a lot smaller. For demonstration, we'll say that developing a MC or FMC takes 100 chapters, developing the relationship takes another 50, and the essentials of the story takes the other 150 chapters.

This way, going the harem route would take you 150 + 6 * 100 + 5 * 50 = 1000 chapters.

Going the non-harem route would take 150 + 6 * 100 + 3 * 50 = 900 chapters.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

So you want to write 5 girls in. Well, I'm assuming you have a male MC so that's 6 characters. If you go the harem route, you have 5 relationships to write, so that's five stories. If we assume that each is 300 chapters long, that's 1500 chapters for the harem route.

That's where you are wrong, going harem won't be 1500 chapters. It won't be 300 either. It will be something along the lines of 600-900. Does character development suffer because of it? Absolutely, but that's the price I have to pay for not having enough time.

So now we try the non-harem route, keeping the number of main characters the same, as opposed to the number of girls. You have 6 main characters, so that becomes 3 girls and 3 guys. You only have 3 relationships to write, so that's 900 chapters, which is 600 chapters shorter.

I don't like stories with multiple MCs. Personal preference.

 

[laccoff_mawning]

That's where you are wrong, going harem won't be 1500 chapters. It won't be 300 either. It will be something along the lines of 600-900. Does character development suffer because of it? Absolutely, but that's the price I have to pay for not having enough time.

Firstly, I'm using the numbers you gave me. If you have a problem with those numbers, you shouldn't have given me them in the first place.

Secondly, the specific numbers used in the example doesn't change the logic the example follows, nor the conclusion we can draw from the example.

I don't like stories with multiple MCs. Personal preference.

Sorry, I used the wrong term there. Are the terms ML and FML more accurate? I'm not sure. In my previous post, substitute "MC" for "character that's developed as much as a romantic interest or more".

The point is that writing multiple monogamous pairings shouldn't take any longer than polygamous pairings between the same total number of romantic characters.

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

Yuri harems are fiction unless fist fights happen to simulate real life.

Wish fulfilment harems are dumb. Go all in and have a group trapped in one location where they backstab each other only for the guy to come back to fuck em every other day.

As for "realistic" concerns. Statistics. Eventually, if you aren't concerned with public appearance or social anxiety, you can ask out a few thousand women and eventually you will find some who are willing. Just like you can find someone who will be into other random, deplorable shit with you. Drink blood while doing it. Zoophelia. You ever heard how Goatse stopped his fetish? Let your imagination go wild. Someone somewhere is willing.

So, my advice:
For those wanting to do harems do what I do and explore a new avenue. Have the harem already exist at the beginning of the story. Explore the story with a group of loveable wives already in tow.

No. They don't.
Any individual practicing polygamy that claims to be a "Mormon," or more properly a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is in direct violation of doctrine and policy.
It was done in the past, but it is not today, and has not been practiced since 1890.

The hell is this take? As if doctrine matters. They are literally doing harems. The whole point of the argument.

 

[RepresentingDesire]

I think harems are often not really harems but another form of polygamy, like a textbook harem is a main-women or men with whom there may or may not be romance, the rest is a side-dish, I have heard it being called unicorn polygamy as well. The harem tag seems to me like an excuse to ignore romance without having no romance, which can make sense but on story level I have yet to hear of a good harem.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Firstly, I'm using the numbers you gave me. If you have a problem with those numbers, you shouldn't have given me them in the first place.

Secondly, the specific numbers used in the example doesn't change the logic the example follows, nor the conclusion we can draw from the example.

No, it does change the logic if you look at the numbers. 1500(5 stories) is less than 600-900(one harem story). I know why you change the numbets to make it look as if harem stories are longer.

Sorry, I used the wrong term there. Are the terms ML and FML more accurate? I'm not sure. In my previous post, substitute "MC" for "character that's developed as much as a romantic interest or more".

The point is that writing multiple monogamous pairings shouldn't take any longer than polygamous pairings between the same total number of romantic characters.

I've said it before, I don't want to pair romantic interest(FML) with a "character that's developed as much as a romantic interest or more". I have separate characters for that role. FMLs I came up with should be paired with MCs. I wrote it in my previous reply, please re-read it.

Lastly, you are obsessed with equal numbers of character, but they shouldn't be equal at all, nor should all of them be fleshed out. 1 MC, 5 love interests, that's 6 characters. I don't have to include 4 more male characters and flesh them out. I can include 2 male characters that are fleshed out, and 2 that aren't fleshed out. I can include 1 male character, 1 love interested of the said character, and 2 male characters that are not fleshed out, and so on.

So what should I say in the end, please don't use your own preferences and vision as 'counterpoint'. Clearly we see writing process differently and have different preferences. So please call it your opinion, not a 'counterpoint'.

 

[laccoff_mawning]

Second reason, I don't have time to write all the pairings if they were to be monogamous.

Perhaps I've misunderstood this post, but my thoughts are that you're saying that a harem novel takes less time/words to write than an equivalent non-harem version of said novel. Is this interpretation wrong?

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Perhaps I've misunderstood this post, but my thoughts are that you're saying that a harem novel takes less time/words to write than an equivalent non-harem version of said novel. Is this interpretation wrong?

For me. It takes less time and words for me. Not for everyone.
Edit. C'mon, man! I wrote in my first reply, "I prefer" and used "I" not we, not authors, didn't use phrase in general.

 

[Edenc2708]

Stories I used to get pheromone in reading when i was young

 

[laccoff_mawning]

For me. It takes less time and words for me. Not for everyone.
Edit. C'mon, man! I wrote in my first reply, "I prefer" and used "I" not we, not authors, didn't use phrase in general.

Oopsie!

 

[Gray_Mann]

Some harems are good, and some are bad. I read and enjoyed some, disliked others.

To me though, if you are going to use the tag, than COMMIT to it.

If the MC picks one in the end, IT WAS NOT A HAREM. You misused the tag.
If the MC picks two in the end, IT WAS NOT A HAREM. You misused the tag.
If the MC picks no one in the end, IT WAS NOT A HAREM. You misused the tag.

It amazes me how often people fuck this very simple concept up.
Also, a harem is by definition, THREE OR MORE. Not 1. Not 2. Not 1.5. Not 2.5.

IT. IS. THREE.

Why are there so many morons who can't keep up with these VERY simple facts?

Every time I read a story, with a misused harem tag, or any tag at all honestly, I IMMEDIATELY give it THE WORST score I can because I DESPISE misused tags. I don't care how good the story is or was. Fix your tags, get back to me on that, and I'll remove the 1 star or whatever the hell low-scoring is available.

Yuri harems are fiction unless fist fights happen to simulate real life.

I just couldn't help snorting and slightly choking on the water I was drinking when I read this.
Lesbian couples have the highest percentage of domestic abuse out of all pairings, and their marriages fail more often then not.
A yuri harem in real life would end with some dead, some in prison, and everyone traumatized.

Goatse

Who is Goatse?

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Why are there so many morons who can't keep up with these VERY simple facts?

Because a lot of people use japanese meaning of the genre. Which isn't right, they are dumb, yeah-yeah. The fact of the matter is, it's hard to change public's perception of this genre. As long as there are japanese harems, people will keep using wrong definition.

 

[Gray_Mann]

Because a lot of people use japanese meaning of the genre. Which isn't right, they are dumb, yeah-yeah. The fact of the matter is, it's hard to change public's perception of this genre. As long as there are japanese harems, people will keep using wrong definition.

And I will keep pointing out how wrong they are. A never-ending cycle of frustration and verbal abuse. En garde!