How many LI is too many?

I was reading this thing on why people click off stories and a majority of them were having more than 2 LI. My story is suppose to have 5. Is that too many and why do you feel like that? (Like why don’t you want more than 2) I personally love having options.

I’m new and now I can’t reply lol.

was thinking about doing that, I feel like it’s unrealistic for 5 people to love you automatically, I want to build the romance if your both mutually flirty. So like the mc would flirt first and as romance points gets higher the more flirty that character is towards you. There’ll always be a choice. Thanks for the feedback!

I was thinking (it’s a high school story) you see some of them in class to get to know them at first but later on you just get to chose who’ll you’ll date/spend time with mostly. I’m not sure how to explain it.

I’ll do my best not to do this, and I’ll try not make the reader feel overwhelmed. I just like having options. My plan was 3 boys 2 girls but maybe I should just even it out.

Hmm I’ll definitely take this into thought when writing my story.

ANYMORE FEEDBACK IS STILL APPRECIATED.

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4 is kinda my limit.

I just feel that they all jump on the Mc if it has choices between friend points or romantic points then I’d say it’s fine. But I don’t like when they’re all instantly in love with the Mc and you have to act like jerks to everyone except the one you like the most.

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its to many if your story is not a harem

I think 3 is ok, more than that is too much and imo it’s a little unrealistic that 5 people at the same time will fall in love with the mc. I mean I guess it depends on the circumstances and how it’s gonna play out.
Like are you going to develop a relationship with all 5 of them, am I going to have to choose between them for different scenes ect.

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just note that with multiple LL that you shall give the reader the option to choice. if you try to push them to end with one guy and they rather wanna date another it can be problmatik

lets use frozen for example . two love interest hans and kristoff. lets say it was like episode and I really liked hans and wanted anna to end with him. but the author did not want that so the author makes him evil at the end. then the author took away my choice.

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Hmm that sounds better but you would still have to let the readers know the characters better so she has to interact with all 5 some might be annoyed by this if they have to “spend time” with the other 4 idk just a thought but again it all depends on the circumstanced and how they spend their time together.

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I think it depends on the story.
Personally, I prefer 1-2 love interests because I feel overwhelmed when I have too many options. And it doesn’t include every author but some authors, who add more than 2 love interests, have a favourite LI and it often shows in their stories which is unfair to the other LI’s.

But of course, it’s your story and you can add as many as you want. it’s just my opinion. :slight_smile:

As a compromise: You can create 4 love interests: 2 guys and 2 girls so the reader can choose their dating preference. :smiley:

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I’ve read a couple stories like that and I actually liked the one that turned bad better and didn’t like the other on at all, so I stopped reading, like thanks for nothing. Why make people waste their choices making them believe you can choose between the two .

God Frozen was so stupid.

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i think some stories can pull off multiple LIs, if the plot’s not solely based on romance and each LI plays a part in story/character development. when u have multiple LIs i think it’s always good to have the option to be friends with some them instead. but that might defeat the point of an LI? idk :woman_shrugging:

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i mostly only like 1 because when it’s a story where at the end you get to choose i can never choose so i choose one of the love interests and then i replay the story again and do the other one lols. But i don’t mind more then 1 because i love stories with drama :wink:

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I can either do one or two.

I like stories with only one, because I’ve found that authors really focus and build this relationship. Since they don’t have to worry about the other guy/girl. Also, a lot of 2 LI stories tend to have a favorite (one of my stories included :joy:).

But with that being said, I like having the option. There’s a chance I could potentially despise a love interest. So it’s nice to have another choice! And it gives me more of an “interactive” feel.

Beyond two… I probably won’t read unless all of the love interests are well developed. And I can make the choice fairly early on. It just feels a little too “crowded” when there is more than 2.

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I don’t like have more than 2 Ll’s, because the two itself stress me out. How come they all like me at the same time? Why couldn’t it be at different times? 2 is really my limit because I only have so much love to give.

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First of all, I think there was a lot of great points in the comments.

Second, when I read a love story, more often than not it doesn’t make sense to me that there is another love interest. And as @Rosenspitze pointed out, the writer often ends up having a favorite and doesn’t necessarily even develop the other love interest as a character, which sort of makes the whole another love interest thing pointless for the story.

But the way you (@RazzelDazzel) explained how you were going to do your story seems fine. I like the idea of having individual romance points with every love interest and I think it would be great to have friendship points too, if you just want to be friends with one (or more) of the love interests. I think it’s important to give the reader the right to choose between the love interests.
Another very important thing in my opinion would be to develop all the characters. Make sure that each one of them is an individual with their own personality, likes and dislikes and a background. The more different the love interests are from each other the more interesting it think it is for the reader too. Take time to let the reader get to know each and every one of the love interests as individuals and slowly build on the possibility to start developing feelings between the MC and LI.

I would read a story like this. And if all the love interests are great in their own special way (are well developed) oh man, which one do you choose in the end…? :sweat_smile:

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This.

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To be honest, I really prefer to have one LI because it shows that the story can only be read in one version the way the author attended the story to go. However, I don’t mind having 2 LIs either depending on the plot of the story. Nowadays, I’m into stories with 2 LIs so it really doesn’t matter.

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i honestly think the maximum is 4-5 , i Don’t really care about a story that has many LI , i just want some high quality. There was story (it one of my favorites) it has like 10 LI even tho it too many atleast we can see the characters development & that the MC spend time with them to get to know them and etc. the author really put a lot of effot and quality , development about the characters and shes also Don’t have favorite LI like other people cough cough , she treat the LI equally like humans being.

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My story there are 3 LI but I’m making romance an option, so that people don’t feel that it’s being forced onto them. Having more than 2LI it’s best to make them really feel like characters first and not just a plot device.

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I agree with @Pansexual_Frying_pan

Unless if it’s a dating show type of story (like The Acting Game), a lot of love interests would be okay in my opinion! :grinning:

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Too many love interests feels overwhelming and awkward. Most MCs are not in polyamorous relationships, so I find all the flirting and dating multiple people out of character. Don’t hate on me, y’all, it’s just how I feel- especially with young MCs, like high schoolers!
I feel really overwhelmed knowing that half of the people I interact with have a good chance of being my partner. It’s unrealistic, too.
Another aspect of my issue with too many LIs: I have a type for every character. Sweet, green eyes, freckles? Pale, dark hair, mysterious? I can’t come up with 4 hot people that fit the type of the character, even if the personalities are preset by the author. 4 smokin’ hot wo/men for me to fall in love with? That’s a LOT.
I prefer 1, sometimes 2, and I’ll go with 3 if the MC is bisexual and the options are of both genders.
EDIT: also, I like having valuable relationships with all of my potential partners and friends. Many is too many. There’s so much going on at once. Yikes!
I’m here to answer any more questions you have about writing your story. Happy writing!

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I don’t have having lots of LI, as long as they are different, like drastically and we can rule out love interest in certain scenarios

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