Will Grayson 1 : First protagonist of the story. He lives in Chicago, Illinois. His point of view is seen in the odd-numbered chapters, where the entirety of the text shows proper capitalization. He is the first, and only, male straight-identifying member of the Gay Straight Alliance. His chapters are written in the familiar tone of voice. He is a fan of the band Neutral Milk Hotel. Jane Turner is his love interest; Tiny Cooper is his best friend. He is a clear example of teen mediocrity from start to finish of the novel.
will grayson 2 : Second protagonist of the story. He lives in Naperville, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. His point of view is seen in the even-numbered chapters, where the entirety of the text is always lowercased. He has a crush on Isaac, a boy that he met online; the two of them communicate via instant messaging, in secrecy, under the pseudonym grayscale and boundbydad . Meets Tiny Cooper through Will Grayson 1. He is perhaps a more realistic character than the typical stock gay character. At least at the beginning of the novel, he is angry, and vulgar. Therefore, he is more relatable to teenagers, particularly LGBT teenagers. Will Grayson 2 has been diagnosed with depression, taking antidepressants and claiming, early on, that he is constantly "torn between killing himself and killing everyone around him". He is not close with any major character in his school, though he does interact with his not-so-secret admirer, Maura.
Secondary characters
Tiny Cooper : Will Grayson 1's best friend in school. He is described as being a large flamboyant homosexual football player who runs through love interests swiftly. He is the president of the Gay-Straight Alliance at school. He is described as "very gay, and very proud". He meets will grayson 2 through Will Grayson 1. Though the book may be titled after both Will Grayson's, Tiny becomes the primary focus of the story.
Jane Turner : Friend of Tiny and Will Grayson 1. She is also a member of the Gay-Straight Alliance at school, and adores Neutral Milk Hotel. She is Will Grayson 1's love interest.
Maura : A goth girl who is attracted to will grayson 2. She is one of the few people at his school with whom he interacts. She is described by will grayson 2 as "unrealistically friendly", because she pays "too much attention" to him when he describes himself as uninteresting. Maura poses as the online-love interest of will grayson 2, Isaac, to gain will's attention, admiration, and further, affection.
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