diff --git a/securedrop/create-dev-data.py b/securedrop/create-dev-data.py
index 8f6c43a4451..2a239b1f9da 100755
--- a/securedrop/create-dev-data.py
+++ b/securedrop/create-dev-data.py
@@ -15,14 +15,11 @@
 from sdconfig import config
 from db import db
 from models import Journalist, Reply, Source, Submission
-from specialstrings import submissions
+from specialstrings import strings
 
 
-replies = cycle([
-    'This is a test reply without markup!',
-    'This is a test reply with markup and characters such as \, \\, \', \" and ". ' +  # noqa: W605, E501
-    '<strong>This text should not be bold</strong>!'
-])
+submissions = cycle(strings)
+replies = cycle(strings)
 
 
 def main(staging=False):
diff --git a/securedrop/specialstrings.py b/securedrop/specialstrings.py
index cad9ba97414..968fa87ad5d 100644
--- a/securedrop/specialstrings.py
+++ b/securedrop/specialstrings.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-from itertools import cycle
-
-
 strings = [
+    """This is a test message without markup!""",
+    """This is a test message with markup and characters such as \, \\, \', \" and ". """ +  # noqa: W605, E501
+    """<strong>This text should not be bold</strong>!""",
     """~!@#$%^&*()_+{}|:"<>?~!@#$%^&*()_+{}|:"<>?~!@#$%^&*()_+{}|:"<>?~!@#$%""",
     """Ω≈ç√∫˜µ≤≥÷
 åß∂ƒ©˙∆˚¬…æ
@@ -142,15 +142,3 @@
 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚡 𝚓𝚞𝚖𝚙𝚜 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚣𝚢 𝚍𝚘𝚐
 ⒯⒣⒠ ⒬⒰⒤⒞⒦ ⒝⒭⒪⒲⒩ ⒡⒪⒳ ⒥⒰⒨⒫⒮ ⒪⒱⒠⒭ ⒯⒣⒠ ⒧⒜⒵⒴ ⒟⒪⒢""",  # noqa: W605, E501
 ]
-
-submission_list = ["""This is a test submission without markup!""",
-    """This is a test submission with markup and characters such as \, \\, \', \" and ". """ +  # noqa: W605, E501
-    """<strong>This text should not be bold</strong>!"""]
-submission_list.extend(strings)
-submissions = cycle(submission_list)
-
-replies_list = ['This is a test reply without markup!',
-    'This is a test reply with markup and characters such as \, \\, \', \" and ". ' +  # noqa: W605, E501
-    '<strong>This text should not be bold</strong>!']
-replies_list.extend(strings)
-replies = cycle(replies_list)