The daze before it was imago
The story and characters of Imago Daze had a life before they were put into their current universe. Originally, Santiago was 'Finn Westur': a man made a strict rule follower after his father was executed for participating in illegal shenanigans. On the other hand, Hazel was 'Mira Cortrell', a quiet gardener made for the dating game The Arcana.
While I loved the ideas I had, I lost interest in the big project Finn was supposed to be part of, and was no longer interested in keeping up with The Arcana fandom. I dumped them both in the OC garbage dump around early 2021 and decided to move on to other ideas...
Cue the actual concept for Imago Daze! It was around late 2021 when I got a sudden spark of inspiration for the story. If you don't know, I have another project called Her Stone, the Sun that takes place in Ancient Greece and centers heavily around their mythology and beliefs. I liked how the story and culture of Greece were something inseparable, and that if you made HSS take place somewhere else, it wouldn't be the same. Settings and culture are an underrated medium in storytelling, and they can pack quite the punch when used correctly - especially if it's one in the real world.
After noticing this, I wondered if there were any other places I would like to write where I could intertwine an aspect of a culture and a plot of a story. My first thought went to Mexico's Day of the Dead, since it was a holiday that a few awesome stories have been crafted around. There was some artistic liberty potential, so I decided...why not add necromancers that helped souls return to the land of the living every year?
The idea got me pumped. I started thinking and planning and visualizing and then realized I should probably take it slower than the pace I was going. For what I was envisioning, this story would be my biggest project yet. I needed to start from the bottom up. And what better why to start off a story than creating the main character? (read character design page for more)
What's in a title?
There were so many titles in my head before I settled on Imago Daze. The main placeholder name was 'The Wandering Butterfly', the same nickname that Santiago has due to his homecoming every October. Though I knew I needed a name that packed more of a punch. Something that didn't center just on the main character and put a spotlight on everyone in the story.
I scrambled to my friend Google Dictionary and scrolled through lists of synonyms for insects and biology terms. One I considered was Metamorphosis, but considering that's the name of an infamous h3N&@! I cowered away. I continued to filter through words like cocoon and transformation until there stood one that fit PERFECTLY x2.
It was Imago. Pronounced e-may-go, the term can have two definitions. The first is "the final and fully developed adult stage of an insect, typically winged." Second is "an unconscious idealized mental image of someone, especially a parent, which influences a person's behavior."
To end this section off, I'll just let you think why those work so well. It's not that hard - it practically explains itself.