Background: My main WIP is a space opera. Takes place on a different planet with a race of people indigenous to the planet. Its a primarily a desert/dry planet, with its indigenous inhabitants primarily made up of nomadic clans (save for 2 clans thats have become sedentary). They are very spiritual and respect tradition. Each clan has a cheif and an Elder, who keep their traditions alive and who are said to provide a direct link between the physical world and the spirits. Plot begins when a young woman of a nomadic clan is chosen by the spirits to marry a physically disabled man from one of the sedentary clans. She marries him out of respect for the spirits and duty to her clan but she questions everything about the spirits and her clan and generally hates on everyone, telling herself that she is only living there to appease the spirits, but she is not going to be a part of the clan in any way and that means keeping her distance from her new husband, who doesnt really want anything to do with her either and does his own thing. They eventually become friends and then eventually develop feelings for one another. The woman finds out that she has a connection to this clan beyond what she has known and that maybe she has been sent to this clan for a reason. Problem: I was in the middle of writing where i had a fleeting thought of what if the pair are reincarnations of lovers that died long ago and thats why they are drawn to one another. While I like the idea, i cant help but think its a cop-out. Almost like she NEEDS a reason to fall in love with him instead of just letting it happen. But then, every story needs something to drive the plot.... but is it too cliche? I feel like I should have it figured out just by what I wrote in this post, but if thats the case, why am I suddenly stuck on this one thing in my WIP?? Its like I hit a wall because I cant stop turning this idea over and over in my mind!
Let it be a part of clan lore, do your original work, then consider writing them into it. Either way, you keep it.
I don't think they need to be reincarnated lovers, personally. They could just be a good match. I'm wondering though, you said it was a space opera. where's the space?
There is more to it... I just gave the bare bones of the plot. In another post, I mentioned that this particular story is part of a larger WIP that has more to do with space as it revolves around this one particular planet. This particular story/part takes place exclusively on this planet, though, and set before the humans even set foot on their planet.
Hello. While you can keep your original idea on your story, give to the characters in love a common goal, maybe they have a desire to leave the clan by discovering a forbidden true or a scandal to not suffer consequences? Or if you desire to keep this as a clan tradition of many years, perhaps the clan chief have a strong reason for marrying your MC? Is he in threat? Is someone blackmail him? Does he value more tradition than family? I hope this helps .