Will Grayson 1
One of the two main protagonists of the story, Will Grayson is a high school student who doesn’t have many friends or feelings. His best friend is Tiny Cooper, who has known him for many years, and he recently met the other Will Grayson and Jane Turner. Will struggles with his feelings for Jane and his friendship with Tiny through the book, but manages to keep everything together. Will has fights with both Jane and Tiny, but while he talks to the other Will, he is able to sort his relationships out.
Will Grayson (2)
The second main protagonist in this story is a depressed and emotional high school student who constantly wants to kill himself. He has three ‘friends’ at school, but when he goes home he only talks to his online friend Isaac from another state. He has never met Isaac before, but reading the messages they send each other, it is quite obvious that they are gay. When the opportunity arises for them to meet and Will is let down, he meets the other Will Grayson and they become friends. This leads him to his new friend and boyfriend, Tiny Cooper, who he has an ongoing relationship with through the book. By the end of the book, Will has made many improvements to his mental health with the help of his new friends, and has received closure after his failed relationship, with the possibility of starting a new relationship with somebody more suitable to his needs.
Tiny Cooper
Tiny Cooper is built like a bear, huge in all directions, and has been Will Grayson’s (1) best friend for a long time. Throughout the story, it seems that Tiny has on-and-off relationships with many different boys, his most substantial being the relationship with Will Grayson (2). The end of the book concludes with the musical that Tiny writes for the school. Tiny is a big supporter of gay rights and is an executive member of the Gay-Straight Alliance at school, which is why he wrote the play. Tiny’s biggest struggle through the play is not falling in love with every guy he sees, which becomes easier after he meets Will (2), which reflects in his musical at the end of the story.
Maura/Isaac
Maura is Will Grayson’s (2) best friend at school, even though Will doesn’t consider her that much of a friend. As the story progresses, the reader may realize that Maura has a big crush on Will Grayson (2) as she feels she can relate to him as she is also a depressed emo student. A few chapters into the story the reader finds out that Isaac isn’t real and just a cruel joke that Maura was playing on Will. She is then shunned by Will for the majority of the book.
Jane Turner
Jane is a high school student that is a part of the Gay-Straight Alliance and meets Will Grayson (1) through Tiny Cooper. She has a crush on Will, but he doesn’t show any feeling towards her. The night that the two Wills met, she met her ex-boyfriend and talked with Will (1) about her feelings but he didn’t seem interested enough in her. After a while he realized he did like her so Jane had the choice of keeping him or leaving him in the dust. Jane is the kid of person that doesn’t need a man, so why would she need Will?
Nick / Gary
Two of the other members of the Gay-Straight alliance, they are both gay and in a relationship. They both take part in the musical that Tiny writes and are background characters in the story. Gary Attends the first outing with Will Grayson (1), Tiny Cooper, and Jane Turner to see the band Neutral Milk Hotel in an over 21 club and helps them to sneak in.
Simon / Derek / Gideon
These three boys are the only friends that Will Grayson (2) has in school and are the people he hangs out with at lunch. Simon and Derek are huge nerdy geeks that are only friends with Will because they sit together at lunch and he does mathletes with them. Gideon became friends with Will after he came out. Gideon is gay as well and reached out as a possible boyfriend, but when turned down became a good gay friend. Towards the end it was implied that he had a potential romance with Will.
