Elsewhere on this blog we’ve discussed the balance between the idea and the actual writing: the labor that gives the idea life. Time Lincoln, a one-shot comic book, is a fine case study.

The idea here is hot! A steampunk Abe, traveling through time with a band of heroes, whomping bad guys led by Josef Stalin!  What’s not to like?

Unfortunately it’s all idea and no story.  What I have just summarized is just about all there is to this, except for some cool weaponry and goggles.  This is a comic book that should have been plotted more carefully, before the artists ever got hold of it.  They needed a decent story first, and they skipped that step.   Alas!

The moral? An idea is not enough.  You need all the other building blocks as well — plot, character, development, crisis.  Otherwise there’s no there there.