Why harem?

[SilvoidVorstellung]

First, youll need an ALPHA protagonist. This needs to be an attractive, confident male, that has the ability to sexually satisfy multiple partners.

That can sometimes makes a story worst, so be careful with this advice cause you'll end up making a mary sue.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

ITS REALLY HARD TO FIND A DECENT 1 ON 1 ROMANCE.

fucking HOW? Romances are like one of the easiest things to write and there's hundreds, thousands, or well done romances. What nonsense sites are you reading romances from? Or are you reading SMUT romance? because that shit is NOT the same. You need either pure romance Nora Roberts shit or some erotic romance like Sherilyn Kenyon

 

[Zone_Q11]

It's usually the same as others said: "You can't get them, so you write about them."

I don't really understand it myself though. If you were to treat characters as is, then it would be like "MC has relationship with Girl A, Girl B, etc." If this were truly to be the case, how will it resolve in the end? Will he marry them all? Will he choose only one in the end? If left unresolved, then it would just be perpetual teasing, which just gets boring in the end. If he marries them all, then you might as well forget they are "characters" and just read about sex. Given enough time, it will lose my interest when the story devolves the actual plot for the sake of describing porn.

One is loyal. Two is unusual. Three is starting to get out of hand. Four or more is cock for brains.
Love is a necessary weakness. The more weaknesses you have, the easier it is for nature to drop you into despair.
Humans are not meant to live in solitude forever. However, you cannot share all of your time with everyone you love either.

 

[tiaf]

I have similar problems , harem is generally really badly written and written in a way that makes everyone seem scummy , i honestly think it is popular because of a huge chunk of horny dudes also usually writing a couple of compelling charecters is difficult , writting lore for all 800 "pokemon" is pretty much impossible to do in any meaningful way

True. Sometimes I wonder what moral compass those characters have. They are either slated plates without opinion whatsoever or are so proactive to engage into being one of many that they must either be really stupid or have some kind of neglect kink.

I believe it can be done well, but it is almost never done well.
Most harem stories follow japanese manga tropes.
in japanese manga/web novels, the Protagonist never has the balls to make a move on any of the girls orbiting him
the characters are almost always one-dimensional fuck dolls who exist to boost the main characters ego
most harem stories have no relationship with logic or human psychology

but harems exist in real life too, dont they?

Wanna turn the genre on its head?
First, youll need an ALPHA protagonist. This needs to be an attractive, confident male, that has the ability to sexually satisfy multiple partners.

second, give the women of your story ACTUAL personalities. Maybe they love the MC but hate sharing him & compete with the other girls. maybe they get jealous and try to sabotage the other girls relationship with the MC. Maybe they get into vicious catfights.
Maybe a girl decides that she doesnt want to be just another conquest for the MC and decides to leave, thats right, THEY LEAVE THE HAREM.
Maybe a girl, angry that shes not the MCs #1 girl, gets mad and cheats, and later regrets.
maybe the girls start out hating each other, but slowly open up to each other, and fall in love & have bisexual orgies

Drama, life, emotions. A harem could be a gold mine of storytelling, if done well.

Alternately,
if you are doing a historical or fantasy, where nobility is common, you can have your MC have multiple arranged marriages, to secure a bloodline.
Maybe those wives dont even love the MC


If you are a lady,
then have your male harem fight. men do not share. very rarely will males be okay with other men fucking 'their women'
when your FMC becomes romantically involved with one male, have another one get angry and leave\find another woman- maybe hell still be attracted to the FMC and cheat.
Maybe the FMC realizes at the end, that she has been playing with the hearts of these men and regrets it

MAYBE THE MALE MC GETS TIRED OF BEING SEXUALLY EXHAUSTED AND RUNS AWAY TO LEAD A SLOW LIFE IN A SMALL FISHING VILLAGE!!!!

It’s actually sad that instead of exploring new ways, most harem fall into the same pattern sooner or later.

But also because that's what most people who watch anime are used to. Though, I do feel some sort of exhaustion from it as I get older of course.

I agree. The me when I started anime only had harem stories to watch that I, to my shame, wanted to write cringe harem story too.

That can sometimes makes a story worst, so be careful with this advice cause you'll end up making a mary sue.

There is always a thin line between being self confident and being arrogant.