Inspiration: An abandoned, desolate city in the beginning, it is the home of the Ideas Desk and all those working there. In the hands of Curiosity, it is restored to its former glory, becoming the home place for good ideas once more.

Dreams: Another city, not that far from Inspiration. It gets exported ideas from the Ideas Desk, and weaves them into tapestries of different lengths and colors. It specializes in good dreams, odd dreams, déjà vu dreams, déjà vu dreams, and the occasional nightmare.

Writer’s Block: Writer’s Block is an odd little area that wanders from place to place. The occasional idea gets exported here to construct great big walls that are impossible to pass under or over. The walls are only broken down when someone manages to find a creative way to pass through and use the ideas that the walls are made of.

Music: A city that receives ideas to create note blocks that are constantly rearranged to make stories. Home of punk, classical, rock, pop, reggae, dubstep, EDM, and everything in between.

Curiosity: The initially reluctant protagonist of our story. Referred to as “the shadow” through the majority of the story, Curiosity wields the power of the pen to create new worlds and restore others. He becomes a wanderer who encourages others, and fights off Discouragement when he is needed.

Originality: The peppy receptionist of the Ideas Desk, she is often mistaken for her sister Creativity. She is good natured, but can put off people sometimes. Though she annoys Explanations to no end, he begrudgingly admits that the Ideas Desk just wouldn’t be the same without her.

Explanations: Described simply as a tall figure, Explanations loves planning, and becomes agitated when he is forced to abandon his plans. He is responsible for all the exposition in a story, and has a long spat with Discouragement, whom he is extremely distrustful of.

Discouragement: The antagonist of the story. Discouragement was one of the first residents of the city of Inspiration and would often harass the townspeople with his vials of Doubt. He was thrown out of the city by the Ideas Desk, which was losing potential consumers due to Discouragement’s antics. Discouragement is very flamboyant and melodramatic and loves making long monologues and flashy entrances.

Other characters: Conflict, Plot, Creativity, Details, Poetry, Prose, Dialogue, Setting, Word Choice, Climax, Genre, Characterization, Grammar, etc.