Attending to change: Dynamic drafting as creative practice research in contemporary retellings of medieval Icelandic literature

This article discusses the role of drafting as an iterative, dynamic aspect of creative writing that can form a component of practice-led methods with its own questions and research contributions. The article reflects on the author’s experiences of field work undertaken in Iceland during the composition of a creative response to a medieval Icelandic saga. It then examines how substantial revisions that occur during the life of a project can form the basis for critical reflections that are, in turn, related to earlier scholarship about the source text. A major shift occurred in the author’s creative project, from the original goal of writing an historical novel to the work’s final iteration as contemporary crime fiction. This change is offered as a case study that suggests methods and question prompts for other writer-researchers wishing to incorporate changes in the drafting process as part of critical reflections about their aims and practice. In so doing, the article provides both evidence and practical guidance about the tangible and precise role that attending to changes during the drafting of a creative work can play in creative writing as a research method.