how do you write a non-dense harem mc?

[AliceShiki]

Density is the reason the MC doesn't 'just pick one' since it would seem like he was stringing them along if he does realize.

Mmmmmmm... Not really?

The MC can just communicate and be open about it, like... If there are a bunch of possible love interests, and the MC doesn't have a clear attraction to any of them, the MC can be like... "I appreciate your feelings, but right now I can't reciprocrate them... I would appreciate if you gave me some time to think about it."

And then this time to think can be postponed for as long as needed while the harem tries to gain the affection of the MC.

 

[Old_Man]

i'm writing a sort-of isekai harem novel right now, and i can't really get it right. my mc isn't the badass type, just someone with a low confidence who was never in a relationship

just make his standards high enough that he's not going to commit to any of the usually-attractive but still-lacking ladies. ...'not sure if readers would like that, but it's probably the only probable scenario. Establishing personal boundaries and letting them know that he, like any male, prefers multiple partners for "casual relations".

 

[MajorKerina]

As a consequence of reading this (I just hemorrhage ideas I can never find time for), I just came up with a fun idea for a harem protagonist. He does something clueless and dumb and winds up with a curse whereby if he isn't holding a girl's bare flesh, like her hand (or something else), then he is cursed to be a girl himself. So he always has to hold one of his love-interest's hands or be stuck as a girl. In the mix can be girls who are disappointed that touching him turns him back into a boy, childhood friends who want to innoculate him in various, extreme ways. And as a girl he might stuff he missed before.

But you could use some magical or plot related inconvenience or boon, like maybe mind-reading or something else.

 

[Alienix]

Well all experts have given many insightful advices. I have taken notes of some of them. I, too, make a harem story. I plan to not throw them aside after MC has done with them. I will make them relevant to the story, plot, and mc to the very bitter end of the story.

I plan to make interesting bond between each of the lovers.