Reverse Harem Romance Plot Template
Genre: Multiple Genres (Contemporary, Paranormal, Fantasy, Historical, Etc.)
Projected Word Count: 50,000 - 75,000
Number of Chapters: 20
Template Length: 23 pages, 7,040 words
SAMPLE
POV: 4 (One for each main character. Most of the scenes are from the FMC’s POV)
Title: This varies a lot because you can use almost any subgenre of romance. Reverse Harem is a trope, not a subgenre. The key to having good series titles is to make sure that you use a naming convention that will work across multiple books. I recommend coming up with a list of book titles for the series before you publish the first book. Look at Amazon’s top 100 Romance list to get title ideas.
Series Name:
- Always, always write in a series. This plot template can be used for a stand-alone, but series generally sell better.
- The series name can be almost anything. Make it memorable and related to the subgenre.
Subgenre
- Reverse Harem is a trope which can be used in every subgenre of romance, including but not limited to: Contemporary Romance, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Sci-Fi Romance, etc.
- Add a second trope to make it more marketable. E.g. Billionaires, cowboys, best friend’s brothers, woman in jeopardy, alien abduction, etc.
Characters
In the template, all four characters will have a complete character breakdown. This is just a smaller sample...
<First Last Name> (FMC)
- She has an equal amount of love for all of the guys.
- Each man fulfills a different aspect of her emotional needs.
- She’s the strong leader that they all rally around.
- She could also be an innocent, naïve woman, but that is less standard.
- She can be anything from a virgin to a sexually adventurous woman.
- She loves her body and isn’t ashamed of her sexuality.
- Even if she’s never had sex before, she’s open to new adventures especially with this particular group of men.
- She is afraid of love because she’s had bad experiences with it in the past.
- All of her relationship issues stem from a bad experience in her past. You should know what this experience is before you start writing. You’re going to anchor her internal conflict to it.
- Falling in love would mean potential heartbreak. She isn’t sure if she’s ready for it, especially not with multiple men. She wants all of them equally but isn’t sure how to make it work.
General Comments About MMCs
- In Reverse Harem, it’s extra important to make the MMCs distinct in every way possible: personalities, looks, speaking styles, etc.
- Use Archetypes for the MMCs. The most common list is the 12 Jungian Archetypes. This is my favorite site with explanations: Understanding Personality. Pick conflicting Archetypes to keep it interesting.
- Vary the length of first letter of each of the MMCs name. Mark, Matt, and Marx might look cutesy, but your readers will hate it. It’s going to be hard enough trying to tell them apart, adding similar names will kill the book.
- An example of a good name selection: Sebastian, Cole, Ryan
- They may or may not get along with each other in the beginning, but they rally around her and that’s what brings them together.
- The MMCs may or may not be related. Unrelated is a lot easier to sell at most retailers. Some retailers will outright ban sibling romances, so to be on the safe side, I’d stay away from them. I like to make my MMCs best friends.
<First Last Name> (MMC1)
- Archetype: The Outlaw
- Believes that rules don’t apply to him
- He operates outside of the usual social structure. E.g. He might be self-employed because he can’t stand the idea of going into an office and reporting to a boss every day. He’s the boss.
- His greatest fear is that he won’t be strong enough to protect the FMC.
- He embodies absolute freedom because he doesn’t care what anyone else thinks… except the FMC. Once he realizes that he cares what she thinks, it’s going to bring up all kinds of conflict for him.
- He’s is a dirty-hot player who isn’t looking to settle down anytime soon.
- He’s cocky and knows women are lining up to drop their panties for him.
- He’s ridiculously hot.
- He uses his sexuality to get what he wants.
- He has zero intention of settling down with one woman. Why have just one when there are so many other women out there just waiting to take a ride on his huge cock?
- He’s the ultimate bad boy.
- The FMC feels fulfilled by him because she feels like she can be herself around him. She can let the wild side out.
- He feels like no one truly understands him, but she does, so that’s why he ultimately falls in love with her.
- To find love, he needs to be willing to give up a little bit of his own freedom in order to make her happy.
- Describe him: <I’m intentionally leaving this open. Just make sure they all have at least one distinct feature.>
The other MMCs will appear here in the actual template.
Blurb
<BOLD TAGLINE>
<FMC’s first name> is faced with <big external conflict>. She needs the help of <MMCs> to <goal related to external conflict>. She can’t fall in love with them because <reason>. But they are ripping her heart wide open and she can’t resist any of them.
<MMC1 first name>, <MMC2 first name>, and <MMC3 first name> want to <help her with the external conflict>.
But, the <external conflict> could rip apart the family they’re trying to form. Is their bond strong enough to help them overcome <external conflict>?
Example Blurb
Three Dragon Warriors Fight for Love. One Witch Hides a Powerful Secret…
On her twenty-first birthday, Sasha’s magic spirals out of control. Unable to hide the extent of her power, dangerous enemies attempt to steal her soul. She tries to fight them, but she can’t do it alone. Three dragon shifters vow to defend her, but in exchange for their protection, they want something she’s not ready to give—her love.
Adrian, Tristan, and Ryan will do whatever it takes to claim the only woman they could ever love. Fighting is in their blood, but they’ve never battled dark magic. It’s unlike anything they’ve ever faced, but they’re determined to protect Sasha, even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice.
NOTE: I wrote this is third person present. I personally like writing blurbs in present tense because it makes the story feel more urgent, as if it’s about to happen right now. You could also use past tense, first person, etc. Make sure that whatever you use matches the POV and verb tense in the book.
Chapter 1
Scene 1 (FMC POV)
Goal – Find out about the big external conflict.
Complication(s) – The FMC is faced with a big external conflict. (E.g. Paranormal - She’s a witch and one or more people are trying to steal her magic. Contemporary – She’s a city girl who just inherited a ranch which is about to go into foreclosure.)
Choice – Should she try to present a solution to the antagonist?
Consequences – She either tries to pretend that the conflict doesn’t exist, or she tries to come up with a reasonable solution. The antagonist rejects her solution and gives her a deadline or ultimatum. (e.g. Paranormal – She’s at her birthday party when she sees something that makes her mad. Her magic explodes and suddenly everyone realizes she’s extremely powerful. The Antagonist tries to attack her to steal her magic. She narrowly gets away. E.g. Contemporary – She gets to the ranch and finds out it’s about to go into foreclosure. The antagonist comes and tells her that if she doesn’t pay the past due amount to the bank, then the ranch will become county property to be auctioned off. She’s going to lose her family’s land.)
POV Character's Feelings – Scared, angry, or sad depending on the situation. She should be very upset by this scene. It’s the catalyst for the rest of the story.
Chapter 2
Scene 1 (MMC1 POV)
Goal – Find out why the FMC is upset.
Complication(s) – MMC1 meets up with the FMC for some reason. (E.g. He works on the ranch. E.g. They have known each other for years and they were planning on meeting for coffee today.) He’s either been in lust with her for a long time and he’s holding back for some reason (E.g. He doesn’t want to ruin their friendship), or he is instantly attracted to her if he’s meeting her for the first time. He would love to seduce her at some point, but now’s not the time. She’s clearly upset about something.
Choice – Should he ask her what’s going on?
Consequences – He asks what’s going on and she tells him about the external conflict. He immediately wants to help her come up with a solution. Although he’d love to get her into his bed, he also cares about her. (If he doesn’t know her that well yet, he sees this as a way of getting to know her more.) He offers to help her. She doesn’t want to drag him into her disaster, so she hesitates to accept his help. She tells him she can handle it by herself. He’s disappointed, but tells her that if she changes her mind, to call him.
POV Character's Feelings – He’s in lust with the FMC but he also wants to help her. Ultimately, he wants to spend more time with her, so he’s willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen.
Chapter 3
Scene 1 (FMC POV)
Goal – Attempt to take the first step in achieving her goal.
Complication(s) – The FMC is attempting to take the first step in resolving the external conflict by herself. She considers asking MMC1 to help her with this first task. He’s so sweet even though he’s sexy as hell. Why would a guy like him even be interested in her? She can’t believe he’s even offering to help her. If she’s been friends with him for a while, she reviews all the reasons why she shouldn’t think about him romantically. If she just met him, she wonders why he was so quick to offer to help her. She thinks there’s nothing special about her, so why is MMC1 so interested in helping? Her task seems very simple, so does she really need his help at this point?
Choice – Should she ask MMC1 to help her with this simple task?
Consequences – She debates whether she should ask for help. She decides that the task is so simple that it doesn’t make sense to ask for help. She attempts to confront the antagonist herself. (E.g. Paranormal – She attempts to cast a protection spell, but it backfires in an epic way. E.g. Contemporary – She goes to the bank to try to talk to the bank manager about giving her more time before they start foreclosure, but he tells her that he’s not changing the timeline.) The results are a disaster. She can’t do this alone. She definitely needs help.
POV Character's Feelings – She can’t stop thinking about MMC1. He’s so hot, but she reminds herself that he’s off limits (Either because they’ve been friends for ever, or because she just met him). She’s curious about him if she just met him. If she’s known him a while, she wonders why she’s thinking about him as anything other than a friend. She’s upset when her attempt to fix the external conflict blows up in her face.
END OF SAMPLE - The file will include all 20 chapters with a complete chapter by chapter breakdown.