Add an IM Code To Her Laptop for Better Communication

If it’s done covertly, it’s called stalking, which is wrong. Fortunately, when used correctly, technology offers us multiple ways to communicate. And that’s helpful. Unfortunately, we don’t know what they all do or are capable of, nor what their long-term purposes are. We just accept them as part of life and get on with it.

Instant Messaging isn’t new, but in 2000, people turned to their online desktops for their first IM experience. It was exciting to see a message t that wasn’t an email. My villain uses a one-on-one private IM to contact their victims (that’s the covert side).

There are IMs everywhere today. Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and many others are built around complex Instant Messaging Apps that do everything and far more than IMs did in the past. What isn’t normal is a small, standalone, private Instant Messenger — designed for just two people to use, that no one else can see or access.

Here’s how the story in the book goes:

A user is surprised when an unexpected message appears on their screen. Their concerns are allayed when the person contacting them is instantly recognised. The intrusion is welcome. It’s seen as fun and exciting. If there are secrets to share, both will take advantage of the privacy. Confidence grows, and that’s how the villain/victim journey starts.

Once activated, the IM is ready to communicate, and it does so incognito, virtually untraceable once it self-deletes.

Where did this IM idea come from?

In 2001, I created my first personal pop-up IM (like ICQ) to contact my wife. Did I say create? I meant downloaded a pop-up program from Tucows (it was called Cosy-Chat or something). My office was at one end of our home, and hers was at the other.

We needed a way to send messages to each other (without yelling). I searched for something that could help us do it via our computers, and Tucows had one. Here’s a mock-up of it:

“When’s lunch?”

“Do you want tea now?”

“Have you finished?”

She’d write back:

“Give me half an hour.”

“Yes. Thanks.”

“Soon.”

Our personal IM helped us keep track of each other’s day. We used it right up until we had mobile phones. When writing SEETHINGS, I created a special fictional IM for its story, to connect cheating lovers. This lightweight IM gets delivered to a victim’s computer via email. (It also deletes itself when it’s no longer required. All traces of the IM vanish.)

I hear what you’re thinking: “That’s nice, but digital communication leaves a digital trail.”

True.

But the story is complex, and a desktop IM that erases itself isn’t what sustains this arc. The most significant hurdle for investigators is establishing a connection between the victims. They don’t share similar appearances, interests, or circles. It’s only living a secretive life that links them — and a private IM that never existed in a place no one cared to look.

Before you think SEETHINGS is a book of techno-babble, trust me, it’s not. It’s more about love, lust, marriage, affairs, trust, loyalty, commitment, needs, wants and emotions. Technology is just a way for cheating characters to become victims of murder. The IM adds intrigue while keeping the investigators guessing. It also builds the tension to an inevitable ending.

But when it comes to great dark fiction, inevitable could mean anything. It could become a good-over-evil ending, or something else that no one would ever see coming.

You decide.

–Michael Forman.