An example of early-style Staunton Chess SetImage via WikipediaChess, like writing, is a game of skill. And like writers, each chess piece has its own unique personality and style.

Which chess piece sounds like you?

The queen is all-powerful, able to move in any direction as far as she wants. The queen is an expansive writer. Her interests are wide ranging and she attacks every topic deeply and with passion. Her writing can be rather intimidating, and while she may not make many friends, everybody wants her on their side. Queens make excellent short story writers, novelists, playwrights, and poets.

The king, like his queen, can move in any direction, but alas, only one square at a time. So while the king also has many interests, he writes in short bursts, focusing on a single point. However, the one point the king makes is usually an important one, one on which an entire topic may stand or fall. Kings have found many new employment opportunities since the advent of blogs.

The rook is quite powerful, but not very maneuverable, able to move only vertically or horizontally. The rook is a logical thinker and writes with dogged purpose. His interests are rather narrow, but he writes with authority and has deep vision within his sphere. He is superb at technical writing and excels in composing white papers.

The knight is an oddball who moves in an L-shaped pattern and has the unique ability to jump over other chess pieces. The knight is flamboyant and writes with flair. She is sometimes hard to understand because she has a unique take on every topic. She tends to jump around, and for that reason can be hard to follow. Just the same, the knight is full of surprises and can change the game when you least expect it. Knights crop up all over the board, but can often be found writing comedy, cartoons, screenplays, and blog posts similar to this one. :)

The bishop moves diagonally, fated to live his entire life on either white squares or black ones. Thus the bishop is able to write on one or many topics, but always with a consistent point of view. About half the audience will find him tedious, but the other half will be enthralled. Bishops are happily occupied when writing reviews, editorials, essays, and advocacy materials.

The pawn is a plodder, moving one square at a time in a single direction — forward. But like most common folk, simplicity runs only skin deep. The pawn has a few surprising tricks up her sleeve, such as always capturing on a diagonal and sometimes capturing without occupying the square of the captured piece. Most amazing, if the lowly pawn reaches her ultimate destination — the eighth rank — she may become an all-powerful queen or any other piece except a king! The pawn writes in plain language, and may be underestimated by the casual reader, who doesn’t take time to see the beauty and complexity of thought beneath her simple words. The pawn has enormous potential, and is like a caterpillar who may one day burst from her cocoon in the perfect form of any chess piece-writer she wants to be.

Oh, to be a pawn!

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