I recently wrote about working on a new draft of a sci-fi novel that’s been sitting in my “get this done eventually” folder for about 13 years. So far I’ve rewritten six chapters of it (out of 45) and I’m actually really enjoying relearning the book as I go.

I’m also, for the first time, writing a story bible to go along with it. For me, that means a spreadsheet that covers characters, races, places, and every other bit of information I might need as I rewrite the book. I did something similar for Holiday Heat, although in that case it was really just about the characters; I kept up with the plots in my head, and since that series took place on contemporary Earth there wasn’t much I needed to remind myself about.

Last time I tried to work on the book, though, I found myself looking at the two windows I work in — one with the new draft, one with the old draft and the story bible — and just… not feeling it. Not because I don’t want to write the draft, but because I don’t want to write the story bible. Basically what I do is: every time I finish a chapter, I go back through that chapter and update the bible with new information from said chapter. If my characters go to a new planet, I include information about that planet. If I introduce a new character or add depth to an existing one, I include that as well.

It’s a little tedious. Important, but tedious. And the tedium is something I don’t really want to deal with. I’m going to — I plan to rewrite at least one chapter a day until I’m done — but I don’t want to.

Amusingly, I just recently rewrote a section of a chapter where one of my protagonists sits down to do some busy-work. That’s exactly how I’m feeling right now.