A study was conducted to examine the effects of students' interests on their writing. A group of 571 high school seniors, fluent and nonfluent in writing, completed a questionnaire dealing with aspects of writing interest, such as subject, form, or voice. Tape recorded interviews addressing the same aspects were conducted with 11 fluent seniors from another school. Findings from each section of the questionnaire, along with comments made by both fluent and nonfluent students, were compared with responses to corresponding questions in the interview. The results indicated few discernible differences between writing interests of fluent and nonfluent writers. Girls' choices for writing genres seemed to fit social expectations that they prefer sentimental, personal varieties of writing. Boys, however, were much less predictable. The findings suggest that teachers can assume a great many common interests among their grade 12 students, such as preference for writing from a personal viewpoint about familiar topics. However, individual differences will determine each student's approach to these general perspectives. The results also suggest that while students prefer writing in the reflexive mode, once they have experienced increasingly demanding writing assignments, students apparently enjoy a variety of forms and contextual patterns. (HTH)