Merriam Webster defines chagrin as “disquietude or distress of mind caused by humiliation, disappointment, or failure.”
It’s a useful word, to be sure, but it doesn’t seem to belong in a children’s picture book. Yet, that’s the word I chose to describe my protagonist’s emotional state, following his failed quest. Why?
It’s pretty simple, really: I needed a word that rhymed with “again.”
For context, it helps if you understand that The Can’t Monster is a rhyming children’s book. There’s no good explanation for why I chose to go in this direction, except that’s how the first stanza of the story flowed from my sleep-deprived mind in early 2021.
A young boy named Will
gazed up at the hill
that loomed beyond Ol’ Muddy Creek
He said to that hill,
“Climb you, I will,
And view the whole world from your peak.”
With those words, I was off to the races. The first draft of the story was full of iffy, and sometimes forced, rhymes (among other problems), but the specific conundrum that led me to use the word “chagrin” didn’t happen until later, after I decided that Will’s father should return in time for the story’s climax. The father would demonstrate empathy with his son by telling Will that “he knew this Can’t Monster too, [and] faced him too often to mention.”
In an earlier draft, I attempted to rhyme “misadventure” with “mention.” Needless to say, that didn’t work. I had no luck in my attempt to find a suitable stand-in for either of these words. Once I realized that I’d used “mention” a few stanzas earlier, I knew it had to be replaced. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot that rhymes with “misadventure.”
I substituted “again” for the duplicate use of “mention” and was satisfied with the result, but this didn’t get me any closer to a workable rhyme. Consequently, I spent a fair amount of time on the website RhymeZone.com — to no avail. Then, for reasons I’ve since forgotten, I decided to look up the definition of chagrin, finding the one provided at the top of this entry.
Not only did it work as a rhyme for “again,” it captured what I wanted to convey perfectly. Will was distressed and humiliated by his failure. However, I couldn’t help but wonder if early readers would know what this word meant.
They almost certainly will not, but I’m rolling the dice that this will not present an obstacle to understanding or enjoying the story. Readers young and old may be able to deduce the meaning of chagrin from context, or they might just blow right past it. Either way, they’ll end up in the same place — which [SPOILER ALERT] just happens to be at the top of a hill that looms beyond Ol’ Muddy Creek.
I’ll only regret my decision to use “chagrin” if, for whatever reason, it’s the reason someone doesn’t finish, or enjoy, the book. As unlikely as that seems, it would certainly be to my own personal chagrin if it did work out that way.
Chris
Buy your copy of The Can’t Monster today via Amazon or Barnes & Noble. FYI: the paperback measures 6.5″ square, whereas the hardcover edition is 8″ square.
The Can't Monster 