The One Note

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The one who has little detail to their personality. It's isn't as much that we don't know a lot about them as it is there not being anything to know about them. They function as caricatures with one focused-on or exaggerated aspect. These characteristics include a wacky voice or accent, a single defining catchphrase, a lone persisting emotion or behavior, and a One-Track Mind that inhibits their ability to concentrate on anything outside of one task or goal. One Notes are a harsh departure from real life since no person is so shallow as to be defined by a singular trait. They can be Fiction Candy, only present for Entertainment Value's sake, but they can be severely problematic the closer they draw to the center of attention. If somebody in the Main Cast is a One Note, they can wear out their welcome by Boring or Annoying The Audience with extraordinary effectiveness. The One Note is known as the flat character in literature, like how the Fix is called the static character. The One Note may be compared to or confused for a Paper Cut-Out, but the latter role is closer to a stereotype than to a husk empty of a soul.

The One Note is a character with more problems than we can count. Although there is a time and place for them, most situations call for fleshed-out members of the cast who can pull in the audience's attention and keep it from wandering. A One Note can be worth a chuckle or two, but in terms of enduring Entertainment Value, they're short of any moves. Essentially a One-Trick Pony, the One Note is forced to rely on their only quality to remain relevant with the audience. However, somebody who can't take three steps before acting out of character can only go so far until they breach their role's boundaries. If the One Note is to stay the course, they have less than a Kiddie Pool's worth of content to fall back on. The audience instantly catches onto their game and can read their every action. Becoming Predictable And Lame is the sad reality of a One Note, but this is the price they must pay for being that plain. The One Note's current abilities are already compensated by their role, but their history and future are equally as ruined. They very rarely have a backstory to call their own, and even if they do, it'll be a far cry from groundbreaking material. The same can be said for their choices in life and the explanations backing them up if they exist. It's for all this the One Note is too clearly a fictional character to abide by Suspension Of Disbelief. It'd be hard for a viewer to imagine regularly running into a person like them and having conversations that go somewhere. They don't have the personality, behaviors, skills, or life story of an individual who can be seen in reality.

UnRec
There's a large pool of roles throughout fiction you have to use with moderation, and in case you were confused by the above information, this is one of them. The One Note means your story no harm if they're off to the side and out of the audience's direct line of sight. Them showing up for a brief series of gags can Humor The Audience, but don't expect their shtick to take you to the moon. Not every One Note is for Comedic Relief. Several are repetitive bootleg imitations of meaningful characters who have closer relations to living exaggerations than down-to-earth individuals with real thoughts and feelings. You can identify a One Note by how they don't seem to have a very narrow spectrum of traits unique to them, oftentimes being ones you've spotted in previous characters. If you look back in your own work and notice somebody who fits that description, you have a One Note on your hands. You have nothing to fear as long as they aren't too close to the spotlight. Those in or closely associated with the Main Cast, however, are a different story. Not only are their own actions readable, but they cause how others react to them to be limited as well. When someone makes it known their only business is to ruin situations for everybody else, the rest around them must waste time undoing the One Note's mess because they have No Other Choice. This error is more noticeable and harmful if it's in an adventurous franchise that tends to punish mistakes harder than a familiar one. Your Good Guys have to be sharp-minded and ready for any hazard you throw at them. If one of them can't stop clowning around, the audience will struggle with taking your story seriously. They'll also chew the One Note out for predictably throwing a wrench in the Main Team's every plan. If you want to write a One Note into your story, be alert of how and when they appear. Their presence can easily grow to be a nuisance if they're in the wrong place at the wrong time for the wrong reason.