The role of writer experience on metaphor use was examined among experienced and novice writers (N = 24 each) in autobiographical (self) and nonautobiographical (other) contexts. Ss were given a writing booklet and asked to produce four descriptions involving feelings and actions of themselves and others. Each protocol was divided into idea units and rated for metaphor use (frozen or novel). Experienced writers produced more metaphors than novice writers, and descriptions of feelings contained more metaphors than descriptions of actions. Experienced writers also produced more novel metaphors, and descriptions of feelings contained more novel metaphors than action descriptions in both self and other contexts. The findings show that more novel metaphors are produced when writing about one's feelings and among experienced writers in nonautobiographical descriptions. (Copyright 1993, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.) (LLBA 1993, vol. 27, n. 2)