SYNOPSIS:

Mere Mortal Men, a screenplay adapted from the novel of the same name, provides the structure to the very difficult emotional material. I had three purposes in writing Mere Mortal Men. The first was to see if I could create an excessive, John Updike-like, serial womanizer and if he would take, given a moment in time with a young college student of extraordinary goodness, his exposure to her as an opportunity to change his attitude, even his life. Updike, whom I adore, never really gives his men a chance to revisit themselves. I wanted to see if it was possible. The second reason was to write about a "suburbs" story that was whispered about by my parents. I never knew how I was going to use it in a book, but I knew that one day I would. It was a very upsetting story, and at my young age I could not understand it. Off and on I’ve tried to wrap my head around it in adulthood. My version of my understanding of it is the main dramatic moment. It was as upsetting to write it as it is to read, but it ties into my third reason for writing the book/screenplay. One of my parents’ favorite pieces of music was Richard Rodgers’ Slaughter On Tenth Avenue. That album followed us everywhere, even to Switzerland when my Dad was transferred there. I found the music, and the album jacket photo, rather alarming as a little girl, as I’d never heard so much raw emotion come out of stereo before. Someday I knew I wanted to write a scene in a book that packed the same emotional wallop as that music, and the main character George does that for me in his betrayal scene that is choreographed to the music.