From source of inspiration to material afterlife: on the role and significance of place in the creative process of contemporary Dutch novelists

This article focuses on the role and significance of place in the creative process of contemporary novelists. Previous studies have shown that there is a symbiotic relationship between literature and place. However, little is known about how this relationship is established in practice. How do writers draw inspiration from existing locations? Which places are chosen as the background for a story and how do these places influence the creative process? Based on in-depth interviews with sixteen Dutch writers, this article shows how the role of place has three facets: existing places and landscapes are an important source of inspiration during the preparation of a novel, serve as a spatial framework for the actual writing process and function after publication as a material afterlife for the story and its characters. Taken together, these themes demonstrate how place plays a crucial role in the creative process and–in theoretical terms–how the narrative articulation of literature at a spatial level can be interpreted as a bundling and intensification of place identities. As such, this article offers a new perspective on the synergy between literature and landscape, examined from the perspective of novelists and with reference to their “modus operandi”.