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Wow, you posted everywhere ! x)

So, to answer your question, yes, a good harem story is possible. The reason why the genre is so hated is because most of the time, it's badly executed. Now, how to write a good one ? Well, I think you've got the main ideas.

Don't make superficial heroines. It's not easy to create a character with some depth, but in a harem story, I think there is nothing more important. No one wants to read a story with heroines devoid of any personality and background, randomly falling in love with the MC just because he's the MC. There is nothing more frustrating. If it's just to add them as trophies in the harem, then maybe it's useless to add them in the story in the first place.

The challenge in a harem story is to make ALL of your heroines growing on the readers. You don't want a main heroine + the side dishes. In your average romance story, you will only have one male lead and one female lead (occasionally two, if it's a love triangle), so it's much easier for the readers to get attached to both characters. In a harem story, you have many more characters, so obviously, it's harder to make them shine.

But like I said, you already have the main ideas. Be sure to follow them, and you already have a great harem story.

"I wanted to ask you guys about how I can go about this.

Cross out, Equal screen time, a good romantic resolution, and Girl POV's from your long list cuz I already know of those.

Though my problem with these is the execution itself."

Ok. I will explain it to you with pleasure.

1. Open your notepad.
2. Get your hands above the keyboard.
3. Write.

That's how you execute those things. I hope that I helped.

But seriously you see - I don'y get what you are asking. You have the general idea so what should we help you with? You ask how to write it? From the beginning to the end my friend. From the beginning - to the end.

1. The girls meet in one place. It's the final, important scene that led from a chain of events caused by the fact that they all love the guy. The narration here is neutral - maybe switching a little between all of the girls... But let us start from the beginning - BAM - end of the prologue.
2. First chapter. Narration - some general infos. And here we start switching between girls. We do it in a way that show us their pov going from the same time spot leading to the same time spot. After showing us what they were up to during the same time we go further with the plot. We do it few times entertaining reader with different unique problems and situations of girls but connecting in a surprising way to the plot or explaining a strange situation in the end of one of girl's pov where she meets other girls and see that for example one of them is soaked wet the other exhausted sleeping and so on. And we start over showing what led to state of other girls like that.


3. After some time you can more freely switch between times and povs cause your readers will know that there is no "the one and only girl here" so they will be curious what each of girls was doing.

If you'll ask me what further then I will smack you my boy. Details are the work for each author to think about himself.

And if I didn't understand you well enough then ask the question precisly.

Well, many harem stories (especially the mass-produced anime ones) are 'bad' because they use harems to cover as many bases as possible. In other words, the more pretty girls they can fit into a rom-com story, the more likely it is that a viewer will find a favorite and keep watching. If you're trying to make a genuinely good harem story, then you have the more daunting task of making every heroine likeable. A harem where every girl fills a certain niche won't cut it.

That leads into the other problem with harem stories: justifying them. For most of us, harems don't fit into our normal culture of romance. A significant other is supposed to be special and having multiple 'special ones' can easily make a character seem indecisive or downright manipulative. Especially when it's an uneven relationship (girls chasing after one guy or visa versa).

I think the best way to start a 'good' harem story would be with a setting that justifies why the MC needs to/will court multiple women at once. Either it's normal in his culture, or there's some special reason why the girls can't be separated. Also, I think the story would have to be a proper romance, rather than a rom-com. Rom-coms get away with the harem wackiness by trivializing romance with comedy, but that's pretty much why people hate standard harem stories.

From there, it's a question of how likeable your MC is and are your heroines actual relatable characters, or trope-filled caricatures.

I'm just a reader, so giving advice on how to write one is impossible for me. But maybe as someone who has read quite a few crappy ones, and maybe a few good ones, I might be able to say what NOT to do.

Don't let them fall into cliches. That's obvious, but it's easy to fall into this trap. Try imagining them as a fully fleshed character. When you don't remember anything except for things like "tsundere" "cool" "Childhood friend" and other tropes, it's bad. Make me remember their names. Make them have little quirks. Imagine past events of their's, that don't have to be shown, but would still make a massive impact on their lives. That will make them more... interesting.


If there is one main girl, don't you dare make her the only one with a personality. Supporting characters shouldn't be mere plot devices. Don't make that one male friend only appear when convenient. Sometimes, you completely forget about him because he does nothing. If a main character is friends with someone else, imagine them just talking about random stuff alone. If it's hard, try fixing it. Do that with everyone, especially with other harem members.

Again, there should be a reason for falling in love. Don't make random BS up. Real development should make us readers at the edges of our seats, not go "ugh". This also ties in with the MC's personality. Make the MC human. Don't make him overly wimpy. Don't make him the most perverted being in the universe. And for the love of God, make him be even slightly sensitive, or at least don't make him ignore glaringly obvious come-ons. Useless MCs are annoying. They just cry in a hole, and wait for everyone to save them. People have been pissed at the damsel-in-distress trope for years now, but most harem leads fall in this category. And it doesn't matter if your character doesn't want to date someone. Just make him understand after a certain point that they are indeed interested, and make him reject them if they aren't the one. I get that it would be narcissistic to think a very hot girl would have a crush on you, but still it does get annoying.

Choose your setting properly. I myself am an avid hater of harems, but I can bear it if they choose someone. But think about it for a second. If it's in a medieval setting, where polyamory is allowed, I will grit my teeth, and drop it, but I will understand. But if it's in a school setting, I will not stand for it.Seitokai no Ichizen was a harem that I enjoyed, but the MC had a major flaw. The MC wanted to make everyone happy, but he failed to remember that they can fall in love again. Yes, harem members can. Don't make up BS reasons for polyamory. I will view the MC as scum coming close to school days if that happens. Again, don't let your MC be a pushover. If he truly cared about them, IMO, he should reject them, so they can fall in love again.

I really dislike polyamory in my stories, and in a broader extent, harems. I did love a few harems, like When Superpowers become Commonplace, Invaders of the Rokujouma, Seitokai no Ichizen, and others like it. But those are just a few I liked. Everyone has their wn opinion, and though constructive crtisism is necessary, you opinion matters the most.

[Deleted]

Alright, I'm pretty new to the writing thing, so bear with me while I try to express myself, and deepest apologies if I say something that's been said or that people find they disagree with.

I think one of the absolute best harem stories I've seen has to be from Highschool DxD.  The mc is a total pervert obsessed with the female form, yes, but he also genuinely cares enough about the women he knows not to try and take advantage of them. And despite the pervy actions and desire for a harem, his ideal is a massive number of women that love and care for him, and are cared for by him in return.

Especially interesting in this story, to me at least, is the fact that some of the mc's past experiences stunt the development of his relationships with the girls. He doesn't want to make a move, and he disregards the girls' very obvious advances as a joke,  as a result of this really deep-seated trauma, and it genuinely takes a long time for him to find the inner strength to move past it and realize that he's kind of surrounded by a substantial number of girls that he really cares about, and that care for him in return, which is kind of his dream.

Oh, and the female protagonists are all pretty good. the first few that make up the main cast really feel like their own people, while most of the later ones are likely tacked on to fill the niche stereotypes for all the fanboys, but are still entertaining, at least. (All of this is helped by the fact that I absolutely love modern fantasy and later on in the story, the action just gets absolutely ridiculous, but again, that's just me.)

If I were to give you any advice, I'd just tell you to write good characters. Give the potential harem members a reason to love your protagonist beyond "the story demands it!" Try not to make your mc unlikeable.  If the audience doesn't like 'em, they'll constantly question why all these girls/guys flock to em. And try not to make the mc clueless about the harem. If they'd make a choice, have them make a choice. If not, have a good reason. 

 Don't really know if there's anything else I can say. Good Luck?