Editor's Note:

David Rowell has been an editor at the Magazine for nearly 10 years. Before that, he was an editor at DoubleTake, the fine literary and documentary photography magazine. But the most intriguing fact, for our purposes here, is that until today, despite his impressive record of guiding writers through ambitious pieces of narrative journalism (including that Cheeta exposé last week), he has never written one himself. That changes with publication of today's cover story (beginning on Page 8), about a legally blind man pursuing the seemingly impossible dream of becoming a comic book artist.

I asked David to ponder the significance. Below are his thoughts.

What made you decide you wanted to try your hand?

You start to worry about that old stereotype of the gym teacher: Those who can't do, teach. I began to wonder if I could do -- or come close to doing -- what all these wonderful writers I've had the chance to work with do.

When you spend so much time with a subject, exploring such intimate territory, how do you stay objective?

I was definitely aware of how friendly Andre and I had become. But in the very beginning, I had been clear with him: I said, I have no idea what the story will turn out to be, and whatever it is, or however I see it, that's the story I'll try to write. And he signed on to that completely. So, while I was nervous about all kinds of things during the process, I knew that he understood fully that I had to tell the story as I saw it, not as he or others might have hoped it would be.

Was there ever a moment you wished you'd stayed in the office?

Never. Andre Campbell and Tyran Eades, the two artists in the story, are remarkable people to be around, and you don't spend much time with them before you're really rooting for them to make it. So the entire reporting process was highly enjoyable.

What was the closest to euphoria you came during the process?

There was a moment in the eye doctor's office. An occupational therapist was using a $3,000 projector to blow up an image in a comic book to a size where Andre could see it clearly. The image happened to be a detail of the eye of Bruce Banner, a.k.a. The Hulk, whom Andre had been reading about for most of his life. He was staring at that eye, and the eye was staring back, and everything around Andre just seemed to drop away. I remember thinking, "Whatever I do, I have to find a way to capture this as purely as possible." But, of course, therein lies the challenge.

What did this experience teach you about editing?

Editing is easy compared to writing.

Tom Shroder can be reached at shrodert@washpost.com.