The difficult second novel

Ildar Sagdejev - Wikimedia Commons

Many writers say the second novel is harder to write than the first, mainly because they have higher expectations for themselves. This prophecy came true for me - I couldn't complete my second short story. I had hoped to complete it by the end of November or early December at the latest.

The story was going to be about two security guards monitoring Santa's Grotto on Christmas Eve, in a town centre. The Santa gets drunk, smokes cigarettes and generally makes a nuisance of himself. The lead character muses about life and the commercialization of Christmas, whilst his colleague, Danny gets angry at Santa's antics, but has the inability to swear, as much as he wants to curse, he can't. Things come to ahead; Santa gets fired and the two security guards get to go home early.

I wrote about half of it, maybe a quarter - 16 pages were written in total. Some of it was amusing in places, but it just wasn't me. The jokes were few and obscure, which isn't what people want from a self-dubbed comedy. I also wasn't sure where it was going, if anywhere at all. It was my attempt at something lighter and I hoped to tie it in with the festive season. Unfortunately, it won't see the light of day. My next short story that I have started is more me.