Newman’s work throughout this album fulfill several needs for the children’s writer: you have the quirky theme for Olaf (a personal favorite). A quiet, music-box like quality for children. Crazy and proud themes for the different relatives the orphans meet. Newman’s got a delightful uniqueness for every setting the Baudelaire Orphans encounter. I was torn one which track to write about, actually, because Newman’s score has helped me with character development and plot drive. Today, I will focus more on the plot angle.

“The Letter that Never Came” is a beautiful balance between strings and piano. It portrays hope and apprehension all it once—just the mix one experiences when watching doctors move about a child’s sick bed. I write this scene from the human pet’s perspective; she stays close to her troll master while they work, desperate to hear good news of any kind.

When a writer kills a character, it absolutely must happen for the sake of the story, and not just for gut impact. I’ve had enough people die on me in real life to have an inherent need to keep all my characters alive no matter what explosive battles they endure. But in my story about trolls who keep human children as pets, I knew I had no choice. The trolls have made their world toxic, but they refuse to admit it. It takes the death of my main troll child to push the human pets to fight against those hiding the cure. “The Letter” helps me combat the emotional drain and stay on task, forcing my characters to face the inevitable loss and inescapable future.

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