How can we understand the early stages of artistic creation? How does an idea take shape? How does it evolve, and what methods are used to refine it? When and how does a project get underway? By examining writers’ drafts, textual genetics has helped to highlight the importance of preparatory work in the dynamics of literary creation, to dispel the monolithic perception of a work, and to assess the possible evolution of an author’s “forms of intention ” (to use Michael Baxandall’s expression). The discussion we wish to initiate here follows in the wake of this perspective, while also opening up to sociological, poetological, and pragmatic approaches. We know how much the theme of “creation” has fostered the emergence of the Romantic mythology of immanent genius: in contrast to this persistent representation of the “uncreated creator,” to borrow Bourdieu’s ironic phrase, we would like to take seriously the triggers, conditions, and opportunities that make it possible to sketch out a project before launching a chain of cultural production. 

To this end, we propose considering three perspectives, which are not mutually exclusive but help frame our discussion:

What actions?

Before work on a text or film begins, a “scenography of research”—more or less deliberate and more or less organized—can be observed through a series of actions and configurations that establish a working framework. Reading, collecting, observing, taking notes, or rehearsing are all part of these operations, but in practical terms, how do they play out depending on the people carrying them out and the projects that are taking shape? What routines do writers and filmmakers establish in their exploratory work? What habits develop? How do trial and error, tinkering, and experimentation take shape? What discussions, exchanges, and interactions do these actions entail? To what extent do collaboration and community play a role in this preparatory work?

The concept of “support” can be understood in a broad sense as the totality of mediating factors that underpin creative work (including, for example, institutions that offer writing residencies: how do these structures concretely foster artistic growth?); it also invites us to move beyond an overly compartmentalized conception of spaces and stages: the contemporary era gives prominence to works that play with an indeterminate position, such as what François Niney calls “interference films,” situated at the intersection of documentary and fiction and involving the viewer in the “making of ” (such as Emmanuel Marre’s *D’un château l’autre* or Bénédicte Liénard and Mary Jiménez’s *By the Name of Tania*), or what Anthony Fiant calls “subtractive cinema” (turning a lack of resources into a principle — “less story, less screenplay, less narrative, less dialogue, less music, less set design”), but also publications that offer a behind-the-scenes look at a writing project (whether it’s Annie Ernaux’s *L’Atelier noir*, Perec’s *Lieux* project, or the writings of Edouard Levé, which rely on sketches and incompleteness).     

What kinds of discourse?

How do writers and filmmakers address this question of preparation? What do they say about the triggers, sources of inspiration, or methods they use to generate ideas? What words do they use to describe their habits and rituals, the resources and aids they rely on? Robert Bober describes his notebook as a “notebook where [he] goes as one goes to a neighborhood café, where one knows one will find friends.” What imaginaries, values, and representations are associated with preparation? And, for our part, what concepts do we use to address these questions? From “pre-text” to “fieldwork,” via “draft” and “pitch,” what terms do we use to address this exploratory stage, and how do these terms shape our approach?

This research project will culminate in an international conference, to be held on April 15 and 16, 2025, at the University of Namur.