A series of three experiments obtained objective measures of skilled and unskilled writing that was prepared in response to a potentially hostile audience. The principal differences between the two groups of writers were that skilled writers were far more likely than unskilled writers to go beyond the narrow constraints of the task, to generate new ideas, to use original language, to engage in explicit planning, and to address directly the concerns expressed in the letter they were answering. In contrast to these skilled writers, the unskilled writers tended to ignore their audience, responding primarily to the outline they were given as a writing aid. The results also showed that unskilled writers were much more likely to respond to their audience if the outline were removed or if the letter they were answering was made more detailed and explicit. (Author/RL)