Dry Ice Factory

'Along with pumping out fiction and crusading on legal matters, [Erle Stanley] Gardner jotted copious notes to himself on story ideas, career goals, and general precepts of fiction writing. He tinkered with a “plot wheel” that would generate unexpected situations. The results do get you thinking: Locale: Wagon train. Character: Statesman. Predicament: Madness ... Surely there’s a story there.'

-- David Bordwell, "Overbooked"