Signal-style mystery text story: The anonymous poem
A ready Signal-style chat for a small mystery solved in messages, eight messages long and about 29 seconds as a video. Load it, change the words and export it as a labelled, fictional mock-up.
The full script (8 messages)
The first four messages open on the Free plan; the rest need a paid plan.
The script: The anonymous poem
The anonymous poem is a eight-message mystery clue story told in the Signal style by Hollis and Dara. Hollis opens with "Someone left a poem on my desk." and the last bubble is "Then he is your secret admirer.", about 29 seconds in a video.
Pacing numbers: the longest bubble is message 5 at 10 words, the shortest is message 2. One question gives the scene its back-and-forth. You can change any line or name once the sample is open in the editor.
How the Signal look carries the story
A small timer icon for disappearing messages is part of the real look, which makes it a good setting for a secret that must vanish. Extras in this look: typing dots, read marks and reactions; missing: an online status. Signal is a Standard plan look, so a Free account cannot open this sample. It is on the Standard plan or above in ChatsRat. The editor uses its shared layout here, an outline of the style and not a copy of the app.
Writing notes: mystery clue
Avoid crimes, real cases and anything that points at a real person. Keep the puzzle domestic and playful. Fair play matters: do not hide the key fact from the viewer. A cheated answer loses the audience.
What the Free plan shows
Four messages is the Free limit, so Dara's "That is a hard rhyme." is where the preview stops. Paid plans carry the remaining four messages, up to "Then he is your secret admirer.", and allow more people in the scene.
Tips
- Leave Hollis's "Someone left a poem on my desk." alone on screen for a full second at the start.
- Keep it under thirty-five seconds so the answer lands before a viewer scrolls on.
- Rewrite the last line, "Then he is your secret admirer.", in your own voice and mark the post as fiction.
- Swap Hollis and Dara for two invented names of your own; shorter names make tighter bubbles on a phone.
- Shorten "What kind of poem?" if you read it slower than the others.
Questions
Can I use The anonymous poem on the Free plan?
The Signal look needs the Standard plan or above, so a Free account cannot open it. The Plans page lists what each plan includes, and the Free plan shows the first four messages of a free look.
How long is The anonymous poem as a video?
About 29 seconds at a comfortable reading pace, counting eight messages with a short beat between them. Add a second or two for the ending card and a little more if you use a typing indicator before the last line.
How many clues should a short mystery chat have?
Two or three. One clue is too thin and four slows the video; two clues and a reveal fit in about eight messages.
Is this Signal-style chat a real conversation?
No. It is an invented story between Hollis and Dara, made as a mock-up. ChatsRat is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Signal, and the name describes a style only. Label the video as fiction.
This is fiction. The people and events in this story are invented. ChatsRat makes mock-ups and fictional conversations for creators, designers and teachers. Do not use it to pass off a made-up conversation as a real one, to impersonate a real person, or as proof of anything. See the Acceptable Use policy.
About the watermark. Exports on the Free plan carry a visible ChatsRat watermark, and every export carries an invisible mark that the verify page can read. Plans list what changes on paid plans.
ChatsRat is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any messaging app. App names on this page describe a style only.
More like this
All chat storiesStory script libraryAbout the Signal-style chat page