This book grew out of the Fourth Conference on Computers and the Writing process, held at the University of Sussex in March 1991. Fifteen refereed papers were selected from the conference and the authors were asked to develop them into chapters appropriate for this book, incorporating insights gained from their conference presentations. The book covers all aspects of computers and the writing process, including computer-based collaborative writing, hypertext, computers and writing education, computer and professional authors, evaluation of computer-based writing, computers and technical writing, and computer supported fiction. The resulting collection provides an up-to-date cross-section of this increasingly important interdisciplinary topic - with computer, cognitive and educational perspectives covered. The book will be of interest to workers and researchers in language, cognition and computer science; especially those interested in hypermedia, human - computer interaction and cooperative technologies.