Character Speed Dating at the Montserrat Writing Studio

By Ash Dolan

Montserrat holds many activities for students to participate in over the course of the school year. This semester alone has seen movie nights, club meetings, concentration meet-and-greets, and even a Just Dance competition. Today’s focus, however, is on an event hosted by Montserrat’s very own writing studio: Character Speed Dating.

The Writing Studio makes itself at home right above Montserrat’s library and exists to help students with any aspect or form of their writing. Montserrat offers a concentration in Writing and Visual Narratives as well as a minor in Creative Writing, but The Writing Studio’s doors are open to anyone looking for feedback regardless of their academic path. Like many departments at Montserrat, though, the writing studio is more than just a place to do schoolwork. Montserrat as a whole is more than just a place to learn how to draw. Part of the experience is attending fun events to make new friends and enjoy yourself, especially after a long day of classes. Character speed dating is a notable example of this.

It was an ordinary Thursday. I finished my evening class, spent a few minutes at my apartment, and returned to the Hardie building for another activity on my schedule. At 7 pm, a group of students gathered in The Writing Studio lounge with pictures of their original characters. I was among them; I’d even made a doodle of my character holding a flower in preparation for the event. There were students from all grades. Some came with friends. Some came by themselves. The room wasn’t packed from floor to ceiling, but there was definitely a good handful of attendees from all corners of campus. It was set up in a similar fashion to The Bachelor: one person’s character had to choose their ideal partner after several rounds. During each round, the main character would ask a question and the rest of the group would go around sharing their answers. Two people would be eliminated each round. Being eliminated didn’t mean the fun was over, though. Whoever was eliminated alongside you would be your character’s new partner! You would find a connection between the two and put them up on the corkboard with a sticky note and a piece of red thread. This continued until the main character picked their next love (or best friend, if that floated the boat better). It was a fun way to learn about other people’s affinity for creating characters and do a deep dive into your own. character’s mind by thinking about questions that most people probably wouldn’t come up with.

My character made two connections that night: one was with someone I was already friends with, and the other was with someone I’d never met before. Both connections were an opportunity to share a love for storytelling and creation in general. Almost every round was filled with laughter from someone’s silly answer to the question. Everyone wanted to be there and everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun. The sense of community that Montserrat builds is more than just an academic space, and that’s just one of the many things that makes me proud to call myself a student here. I’m excited to see what events are next on the calendar!