While I was working on the concept for Haystack, I had another concept for a novel from 2018 called "Beyond the Lucid" that starred Dakota. As "Beyond the Lucid" was developing, I had also created a prequel called "Before the Wake." While these stories continued to be conceptualized throughout 2019-2021, I eventually scrapped both and turned Dakota, Anette, Inosilicate, and Anil into additional characters in Haystack.