As part of a larger study of teacher-student conferences, a study examined naturally occurring one-to-one writing conference conversations between a ninth-grade English teacher (recommended as an excellent writing teacher) and three markedly different students. The study examined students' grapplings with the structure as well as the content of their writing, and it examined talk that by usual measures looks teacher-dominated, to ask how in the writing conference different students engage in the process of writing and learning to write. Data included field notes, audio and video tapes of teacher-student conferences and all other class activities, all writing from the three students, and interviews with the three students and the teacher. Results indicated that: (1) the force of participants' conference input effectively manipulated talk and the consequences of talk as participants enacted the dramas of composing; (2) all three students differed in the ways in which they encountered their teacher, and this variety reflects how individual composing processes are marked by diverse and changing encounters with others. Findings suggest that it makes little sense either for students or teachers to homogenize instructional talk and that productive talk need not be extended or memorable talk. (Three figures of students' essay drafts are included; 40 references and a transcription key are attached.) (RS)