Josiah is a young but famous fantasy author. His novels are, in particular, famous for their great characters and shocking plot twists. However, while working on what he considered to be his greatest story, he shared some of the details with another author at a writing conference. Shortly after, that author published a book of his own with the same major plot elements as Josiah's. Unable to prove anything, Josiah canceled his own book and began working on a new story (an unnamed novel that serves as the focus on Ink). However, his confidence and trust was shaken by the event and is making little progress.
One day, while Josiah is trying to work on his new novel, a burglar breaks into his house. Josiah is knocked unconscious during the struggle and wakes up to find himself in the world of the very novel he was writing.

Designer's Comments (10/26/2009):
The only parts of the game that take place in the real world are cutscenes, mostly flashbacks, dealing with Josiah's career and how the theft of his favorite story affected him. It's an important part of setting up Josiah's emotional state, the problems he's been having with his new story, and his currently conflicted feelings about his writing.
As I've said before, the Josiah in Ink doesn't act quite the same as I would in the same situation. For example, if one of my stories was stolen, I'd be a lot more angry than depressed and it wouldn't stop me from releasing my own story either. Plus, I would probably do my utmost to sue the thief into oblivion. But, from what I know of copyright law, it is possible that I wouldn't be able to prove that my story was actually stolen. It would depend heavily on the situation and how careful the thief was. Anyway though, the whole point is that, despite sharing my name, the Ink Josiah's personality has be changed a little here and there to better fit the story.

Designer's Comments (11/4/2009):
This type of description is made up of information that probably won't be specifically detailed in the game, but provides a good background for the writer(s) and designers to work off of. This helps make the world feel more real and consistent. Plus, you never know when you might need to some some obscure detail of lore for your world, especially if the game becomes an entire franchise with sequels, books, and the like. Some well established game worlds, such as the Warcraft world, actually have hundreds of pages of lore created specifically for the writers and designers (and the writers and designers for spin off novels, movies, and the like) to reference when needed. In fact, Blizzard actually has dedicated lore masters whose primary job is to be an expert on all things related to the Warcraft universe and aid the rest of the team whenever they have questions about it.
So really, this is just the very basics. While I could write up a ridiculously expansive lore for the Ink world if I wanted to, at this point it would be a waste of time. While it depends on what type of game and story you're making, in most cases you can just start with the very basics and fill in the blanks as needed as you write the story itself. And if, in the end, you never needed to write out the complete timeline for Country X or explain the inner workings of Elven Society, that's fine.
On another note, the part about Galesia being a fairly typical medieval fantasy world is a bit of a commentary on my own writing as a whole. Truth be told, when writing stories I tend to put most of my energy and creativity into the characters and the events surrounding them, rather than the world itself. Which makes the worlds most of my stories take place in fairly ordinary as far as fantasy and/or sci-fi worlds go. Not that there aren't a few exceptions, but that's the way most of my stories go. It's not necessarily a bad thing, there's tons of great books, games, movies, etc out there that take place in more or less "ordinary" worlds, and a complex world can sometimes steal the center stage from the plot and characters. Then again, it's not a good thing either and I'm working on some stories with more unique and interesting worlds so I can improve myself in that regard.

Moments of Power:
To better understand the plot of Josiah's unfinished novel, it helps to have a basic overview of moments of power.
The world of Josiah's novel contains two types of magic. The first is elemental magic, which any sufficiently trained person can weave together to form various spells. There's also raw non-elemental magic. Unlikely elemental magic, which is spread fairly evenly throughout the world, just like the elements it represents, non-elemental magic rarely exists in a free state. Instead, it clusters around various foci. While foci can occasionally be found in special artifacts, the majority are naturally occurring in humans.
There is no training, ritual, or other method to become a magical focus, some people are just born with the ability. While no one has ever been able to figure out the exact determining factors for which people are born with foci, they do have a tendency to run in family lines. Due to hundreds of years of concentrated effort, most of the current royal and noble families in the world, as well as some of the wealthiest and most powerful common families, are genetically predisposed to produce descendants with magic foci.
People with a non-elemental magic focus gain what is known as a moment of power. As there are slight variations in the type and amount of non-elemental magic drawn to each focus, moments of power vary by person. While certain moments of power do tend to surface repeatedly over time (though often with slight variations), it's extremely rare for two or more people in a single generation to have the same moment of power.
A moment of power occurs when a person with a non-elemental magic focus uses their accumulated magical energy to briefly gain great power. The name is due to the fact that such use rapidly burns though all the accumulated magical energy, so the powers granted last only for a very short time. After a moment of power has been used, it can't be used again until the user's magic focus has drawn enough non-elemental magic to recharge its power. This amount of time is usually fairly consistent, but can decrease or increase based on both the amount of ambient non-elemental magic in the area and the user's physical and emotional state. The actual activation and use of a moment of power is instinctive, though after the first time they activate it (often in result to strong desire, need, or duress), users can train themselves to call about it all will (provided it isn't currently recharging).
Since all the family lines with high chances of birthing children with magic foci are gathered among the social elite, they have mostly succeeded in hiding the existence of both foci and moments of power from the common people. While children outside of these families are occasionally born with magic foci, few ever discover the reason for their moment of power or that others with similar abilities exist. Some use their powers to aid in their everyday life, some to amass fame, fortune, and/or power, and still others become legendary heroes, scholars, and the like. The elite have, however, spent significant time and effort researching moments of power and many books on topics such as how to increase the odds of birthing a child with a magical focus, the exact science of foci and moments of power, and lists of known moments of power and their variations and users throughout history.

Designer's Comments (11/2/2009):
I knew that I needed some sort of special element for the plot. Specifically, a reason why Jessie and Ralin are special and why they're on the run. With that need in mind, I decided to focus on the concept of a single moment of ultimate power. But what exactly was "ultimate power"? Truly god-like powers would be overkill but below that, what was the ultimate? Strength? Speed? Foresight? In the end, my list of various moment of power became quite broad, covering not only the more obvious types of power (ie. super-human strength) but some more unique and less direct ones as well (ie. Jessie and Ralin's versions of future sight). And that's only to start. Quite a lot of moment of power users will play a roll in the story and I hope you find their diverse abilities both surprising and intriguing.

The Start of the Story:
The following is the basic plot summary for Josiah's unfinished novel.
Jessie and Ralin are servants in the service of one of the most powerful noble families in Rennez. They were sold into the Lesheer family's service at a very young age and have spent their entire lives working in the lord's manor. Everything changes shortly before their nineteenth birthday when Jessie is called to serve as "entertainment" for Lord Lesheer and his bodyguards. She fights back, and Ralin comes to her aid, but the two stand no chance against the experienced bodyguards, who begin to beat them in retaliation.
It's than that Jessie snaps and activates her moment of power for the first time. With future sight, often thought to be the strongest and rarest moment of power, she gains the power to see the immediate future and the instinctive knowledge to react to it. With its power, she is able to incapacitate the bodyguards. Shocked, confused, and afraid, she and Ralin run. As they try to escape the manor, Ralin's own Moment of Power awakens as well. As Jessie's twin, he holds the other half of the Future Sight Moment of Power, the ability to see the (slightly) more distant future and uses it to guide them safely away from the manor.
Lord Lesheer, being an expert on Moments of Power, recognized Jessie's MoP and is determined to capture her and use her power for his own ends. He in, in fact, a MoP user himself and has surrounded himself with other users in order to further his schemes. Though not the king, he is the one truly pulling the strings in most situations.
Jessie and Ralin find themselves on their own for the first time and on the run from Lord Lesheer's soldiers. During their journey, they meet other MoP users. Some become friends, and some enemies. And then...

Designer's Comments (11/11/2009):
Chances are, you're thinking that the above summary seems incomplete. And it is. Note that this is the plot summary for Josiah's unfinished novel. As mentioned in the plot summary for the real world, Josiah's confidence was shaken after the theft of his pervious story and he's had trouble progressing with his new novel. It's nowhere near finished, both on paper and in his own thoughts. As is, he has little more than a setup and a few of the events along the way.
There are a few unique points but this is to some extent a typical setup for an epic fantasy novel. Most fantasy novels (and stories in general, for that matter) follow a fairly predictable story structure, it's the characters and details that set them apart. And, as previously said, Josiah has been having trouble with his writing and has yet to add as many unique elements to his story as he normally would.
I'd also like to point out that, in real life, I would never start writing a novel using such an incomplete summary. When I start writing a story I always know the beginning, the ending, and a random collection of events (both major and minor) that happen in between. The rest is filled in as I go and get a better feel for the characters and world. So, while I'm not the type of writer who creates extremely detailed outlines before starting on the novel itself, I don't go in with just the beginning of an idea either.

Part 1 - Josiah in "Wonderland"
Josiah wakes up after the break in and finds himself in medieval fantasy world. Before he has much time to think about his situation, he recognizes Jessie and Ralin, the main characters from his unfinished novel. The pair is being pursued by guards sent by Lord Lesheer and Josiah ends up getting pulled along with them. As they're hiding, Josiah finds a strange pen and book, and discovers that the book contains his unfinished story. While Josiah expects Jessie and Ralin to escape the soldiers' notice, as he originally wrote, something changes and they find themselves unable to escape their pursuers. On a whim, Josiah writes a line about them finding weapons, and is shocked to see a crate of weapons appear before them. Jessie and Ralin successfully fight off the soldiers, with the help of Jessie's moment of power, and escape.
Figuring that he's dreaming, and eager to see more of the world and characters he created, Josiah decides to tag along with the twins. Jessie and Ralin are unsure about him, but allow him to join them in hopes of discovering how he knows so much about them. As the twins continue their quest to escape from Lord Lesheer and learn more about their abilities, Josiah is content to act as little more than an observer, in hopes that the dream will last long enough to break him out of his writer's block and figure out how the story should advance. Along the way, he continues to experiment with the book and pen he found, determining the extent of his new found powers, and using them to aid the twins in their journey.

Designer's Comments (11/20/2009):
I don't have too much to say about the first part of the story that I haven't said elsewhere. After figuring out where he is, it's only natural for Josiah to assume that he's dreaming. For me (and I assume many authors) the chance to explore the worlds of my stories and meet the characters I've created would be an amazing experience (dream or not) and I'd certainly want to take advantage of it. Since Ink Josiah is having trouble with writer's block, he figures the best way to approach things is to just follow along and see where the story goes. He's hoping he stays asleep along enough to find out what happens next after the place where he stopped writing. Because of that, his goal is to keep the original plot going smoothly and interfere as little as possible. However, there's another force at work in the world and it won't be long before Josiah is forced to take a more active roll...

Part 2 - Setting Off on a Journey
A few days after escaping from the city, Jessie, Ralin, and Josiah find themselves struggling against a particularly strong monster. They're saved by Xavier, a young mercenary between jobs. Since they seem to be going in the same direction, he offers to travel with them to the next city and teach them how to use their weapons. With his help, the twins fighting skills improve considerably and the three become quick friends.
Josiah, meanwhile, is attempting to minimize his impact on the story. To that effect, he acts somewhat withdrawn and doesn't talk to Xavier very much. Instead, he spends a lot of time observing the others and poring over the pages in his book.
As they near their destination, the group is attacked by a group of Lord Lesheer's men. Despite their training and Xavier's help, it's a difficult battle. Jessie is forced to use her moment of power but the soldiers are expecting it and launch a counter attack the moment it ends. In order to save her, Xavier's reveals his own moment of power. When the battle is over, the twins have little choice but to tell Xavier the truth about who they are. Wanting to know more about moments of power, and spend more time with Jessie, he decides tag along with the twins for a while longer.
With his story seeming to continue the way its supposed to, Josiah begins to think that the incident when he first met up with the twins was a freak occurrence. He continues to be very much the outsider of the group. However, the twins continue to wonder why he's following them and exactly what he knows. When he reveals that he's a writer, Jessie's interest in him grows due to her deep love of stories. At her insistence, he begins to tell her some of his stories...

Designer's Comments (12/2/2009):
So far, the story is advancing in a fairly predictable fashion. The twins gain a friend and mentor, who also acts as a possible romantic interest for Jessie. Joining together, they continue on their journey to learn more about their powers. Fairly standard progression for a fantasy story. Without any big changes in his story, Josiah starts to become complacent, assuming that everything is as it should. But Jessie and Josiah are forming the starts of a friendship, which will have a far greater affect on future events than he could imagine. And he's no the only one changing the story, as he'll soon discover...

Part 3 - Rewrite:
Continuing to follow Josiah's original story, Jessie, Ralin, and Xavier decide to search out an old acquantience of Xavier's, an accomplished magic researcher. As they travel there, Josiah begins to notice a large amount of small changes from what he'd written, but assumes that they're a result of his presence, and the bits of writing he's done in order to aid the others in their battles.
As they travel, Josiah slowly starts becoming more comfortable around the others, though Xavier still doesn't seem to like him very much. However, the trip goes pretty smoothly.
Xavier's acquantence is able to tell the group about the basics of moments of power and, to help them defend themselves against Lord Lesheer's men, he begins to train them in the basics of magic use. It's here that things start to go wrong. While flipping through the pages of his book, Josiah suddenly sees pages and pages of writing disapear. At the same time, a new passage begins to replace them, talking about a group of Lord Lesheer's elite warrior drawing near. He runs out to warn the others but it a moment too late to save their host, who is cut down while trying to protect the others. Knowing that, even with their powers, they stand no chance against the enemy forces, Josiah realizes that their only chance at escape is for him to rewrite the scene. Having limited his previous writing attempts to small tweaks, he's unsure how well it will work. Fortunately, his diversion works, though it leaves him extremely weak, allowing everyone to escape.
When they've reached safety, Xavier demands an explanation of Josiah's actions. Realizing that things have somehow gotten dangerously off course, Josiah decides to tell the others who he really is.

Designer's Comments (12/9/2009):
This is the point in the game when the group first learns how to use magic. It's also the point where Josiah's original plot begins to completely unravel, forcing him to put his powers to a serious test. In his original story, the magic researcher wasn't supposed to die. These events cause Josiah to realize that he can no longer count of his knowledge of future events. In addition, he begins to wonder if such a major chance could really have been caused by nothing other than his presence. This is, in many ways, the major turning point in the story.

Part 4 - An Author and His Creations:
Now that Josiah knows that something is going seriously wrong, he decides to tell Ralin, Jessie, and Xavier the truth about who he is and what's happening to his story. At first, they understandably think he's crazy. But after Josiah details several events from their past, which he really shouldn't know about, and demonstrates his writing powers, they can't help but start to believe him. However, as the truth starts to sink in, the three start to realize that they're sitting there with the very person responsible for everything that has taken place during their lives.
Jessie, being the most hot tempered of the bunch, is the first to react. She attacks attacks Josiah in a fit of emotion, screaming about the death of her parents and everything they've gone through because of Lord Lesheer. Ralin and Xavier pull her back, but they're feeling very conflicted as well. Unable to reach Josiah, Jessie continues to yell out tearful accusations, begging to know why he'd made them go through all this. Josiah is stunned by their reactions and, try as he might, the only answer he can give is that it made for a better story. Unable to face them, he runs off into the forest.
After spending several hours on his own, it's the middle of the night and Josiah is hopelessly lost. All of the sudden, he's set upon by monsters. He manages to stop the first with his writing but the second knocks his book out of his hands, leaving him defenseless. At the last moment, he's saved by Jessie and Ralin. Shocked by their sudden change of heart, he asks how they can bring themselves to help him after all he's done. They respond that, while they're still not sure how to feel about him, he is the creator of their world and they're unsure of what will happen to them if he dies. For the time being, it appears that they have no choice but to help him find out who or what is rewriting the story. Though Xavier comes with them, he hangs back. While he didn't become as emotional as Jessie, he seems to be having a harder time accepting Josiah...

Designer's Comments (1/20/2010):
As an author, I can't help but think how cool it would be if the worlds I create really do exist somewhere out there. Especially if I could visit them and meet the characters I devoted so much time and effort to developing. Some of my characters might be curious or happy to meet me. We may even become friends. Problem is, there's other characters (and I'm talking heroes, not villains) who would quite likely kill me on the spot. Take Guardian of the Stone, for example, the novel I self published. In the prologue, Kren's (the main character) village is destroyed. Many of his friends and family, including his childhood friend and fiance Lucia, are killed. It's hardly a happy start to the story. Yet if I met Kren face to face and he asked me why I made that happen, what could I say? Sure it started him on a quest that eventually led to the defeat of a great evil, but if the attack on his village had failed, that evil never would have become a serious threat in the first place. In the end, I killed Lucia and the other villagers simply because it made for a better story. Kren could have stayed in his village and lived out a peaceful ordinary life...but that's not the type of story people want to hear. Nearly any interesting story needs conflict and tragedy of some kind. Now someone doesn't always need to die to make a good story (a common misconception among some writers and readers), but often times a tragic death is the only way to force another character to grow and do what needs to be done. From the perspective of a storyteller, it all makes perfect sense. But from the perspective of a character in that story... Kren may very likely have preferred to simply live out an uneventful life with the girl he loved. It's an interesting thing to think about, at least for a writer like me. If you find the subject interesting, you may want to check out a movie from a few years back called Stranger Than Fiction.
But anyway, when it comes down to it, Jessie and the others' reaction to Josiah is completely normal. In many ways, he's the source of all their problems and hardships. He created the good things in their lives as well, but does that balance things out? In many way's, he's like a god to them. Though, while you could argue that a god who gives his creations freewill can't really be blamed for what they do, an author doesn't have that excuse. Everything that happens in a story, good and bad, is written out and detailed by the author. There's no free will and no random chance or fate, everything was his decision.
Anyway, I could probably continue on about this subject for several pages but I think you get the idea. How the other characters relate to Josiah is a major issue throughout much of the story, so I'll discuss it more later on.