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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43937
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

If the purpose of the cipher is encryption, use the substitution cipher. Have some character study it, know it is encrypted and that E is the most commonly used letter in English. Ah, E has been replaced with R.

If the message was sent by a spy, it should be hard to understand but it should also be inconspicuous. What might be more interesting is something I use in my piece. Rather than something that has obviously been encrypted, I have spam emails and texts that, when you subtract 90% of the text, you have the real message. This is something that anyone can look at and think nothing of - insignificant spam. Nothing suspicious. Someone with training and aware would see the potential of the other message but perhaps remove the wrong words.

Ask yourself why it is encrypted and who sent it. Perhaps the first substitution method would be best except it screams code. Anything that screams code risks being intercepted and decoded.

A simple paragraph that has the first or, better, second or third letter be of importance, is more likely to seem innocent. It might seem slightly gibberish as an attempt I made to encrypt a message by hiding it in plain sight in a longer text devolved into. It can be done.

Original score: 7