This research, part of a larger study that explores how a guided case writing experience supports a teacher's professional growth, examines the tensions that occurred as one teacher's case became a less personal and more public document. The study sought to discover precisely what processes and experiences contributed to the profound impact that the case writing had. As the writer revised the narrative through dialogues with the editor and other case writers, a kind of writing imperative was created that retroactively transformed the teaching experience into teacher research and led to profound learning and professional growth. As the case writer reconstructed and reconstituted these experiences, they become the focus of systematic research. Data suggest that three kinds of questions appear to be most important in stimulating deep, reflective thinking: examination of how the problems, topics, or issues depicted in the narrative are representative of situations that arise with some frequency in other situations; a concern for other audiences, which pushes the case writer to think like a teacher about the case as a lesson or curriculum; and breakdowns in the classroom, the problematics which create opportunities for learning. The paper concludes with recommendations for using case writing in both preservice and inservice settings. (Contains 35 references.) (JDD)