Faculty and Visiting Faculty

 

Patricia marx

Visiting Assistant Professor, Creative Writing
Patricia Marx is a staff writer for The New Yorker and a former writer for Saturday Night Live. She is the author of many books, including the novels Starting From Happy and Him Her Him AgainThe End of Him, both of which were finalists for the Thurber Prize for Humor, and several collaborations with the cartoonist Roz Chast. Their first children's book, Now Everybody Really Hates Me, was the recipient of the first and only Friedrich Medal, an award named after Marx's air conditioner. Her latest book is Let's Be Less Stupid: An Attempt to Maintain My Mental Faculties. Marx was the first woman elected to the Harvard Lampoon. She has taught screenwriting at Princeton University and can take a baked potato out of the oven with her bare hand.

FACULTY INTERVIEW:

What genre(s) do you write in?

Comedy because I am too superficial to write in any other genre. Plus, earnestness makes me embarrassed.

What is the thing that excites you about the act of writing?

Finishing.

Do you feel like your work is in conversation with other writers or work? If so,
who/what?

I’m pretty sure the answer is no. I talk to myself a lot, does that count? 

What is your writing process?

I am writing all the time and none of the time. My process involves getting up a lot to go to the kitchen and get food and scrolling the internet. Luckily, I never sleep so I have a lot of time to procrastinate.

How do you generate ideas?

Who says I generate ideas?

How do you manage when you get stuck?

I spend a lot of time regretting not having listened to my parents who wanted me to become a doctor, marry a doctor, and have doctors.

Inspiration or perspiration?

Both. Plus, potation. Look it up.

If you weren't a writer, what job would you have?

Medical research or work behind a cheese counter.

Do you have a writing tip for emerging writers?

No.