I have gotten a few complains from my readers why I use [ ] in dialogues and not " " like every other novel. At first I thought it wouldn't be that much of a deal and I still don't think it is. Most of the readers don't mind it at all. Also I got one more comment demanding me to replace all of the [ ] to " ". And of course i wasn't going to do that because I have written more than 200k words.
So what should I do? Continue using [ ] or change my way of writing dialogues to " " from this point on?
Flip it around and consider if you were living in an alternate universe where [ and ] was the norm and you decided to use " instead. People would complain about you not using the brackets. That's because they are used to quotation marks being the norm. That's all it really is, people's comfort are being challenge. They find this to be alien and strange, and people don't like the unusual. It's a distraction to them.
So you could give in and use quotation marks thereafter, or you can stick to your guns and continue using brackets. But consider how much you are challenging their comfort level. Is it just a minority, or is everyone complaining? I think it's a minority, especially that person who is demanding you change every instance back to a quotation mark. Though I find this to be unreasonable on their part, they will eventually get fed up and walk away.
My suggestion is to ask why you are using brackets. Does it add any value to the story, is it because you prefer to use it. You may want to consider what you want from the story from your readers. Do you want them to stick around so much that you will compromise, or do you want them to get something out of the use of brackets, or do you just expect them to just accept the story uses brackets?
What it comes down to is not why are people complaining, but why are you using them instead of what people are used to.
EDIT:
And you just answered the question while I was typing this. Okay, I get it, you liked how it looked. But still, consider the situation with your reader and if it's still worth using it after getting complaints about it.
Flip it around and consider if you were living in an alternate universe where [ and ] was the norm and you decided to use " instead. People would complain about you not using the brackets. That's because they are used to quotation marks being the norm. That's all it really is, people's comfort are being challenge. They find this to be alien and strange, and people don't like the unusual. It's a distraction to them.
So you could give in and use quotation marks thereafter, or you can stick to your guns and continue using brackets. But consider how much you are challenging their comfort level. Is it just a minority, or is everyone complaining? I think it's a minority, especially that person who is demanding you change every instance back to a quotation mark. Though I find this to be unreasonable on their part, they will eventually get fed up and walk away.
My suggestion is to ask why you are using brackets. Does it add any value to the story, is it because you prefer to use it. You may want to consider what you want from the story from your readers. Do you want them to stick around so much that you will compromise, or do you want them to get something out of the use of brackets, or do you just expect them to just accept the story uses brackets?
What it comes down to is not why are people complaining, but why are you using them instead of what people are used to.
EDIT:
And you just answered the question while I was typing this. Okay, I get it, you liked how it looked. But still, consider the situation with your reader and if it's still worth using it after getting complaints about it.
No, from around 2k readers only 4 of them have complained about this issue which one of them made fun of me. I didn't think about it too much, but I wanted to improve myself thats why i tried asking this here. Also yes, I tried using different [ ] for dialogues. " " for character thoughts, and { } ( ) different symbols for the characters skills.
I mean I don't think its that much of a bother but I still needed an opinion about this.
If it's a normal dialogue then as someone who kept reading tens of novels using 「」and similar, I'd advise you to change back into " ". I do use the aforementioned symbols or even other ones, like normal [ ] or ~ ~, but to make the text more different as for internal thoughts, mental communication or other specific means to speak other than normal. Occasionally. Not for every spoken line.
Most people will be used to " " and it's the usual way. You can of course keep doing things your way, but then you have to keep in mind that it will be "weird" for the majority and that means your stories might make them irritated enough to not continue, even if they enjoy it.
In the end, it's up to you, but personally, I think it's too much when we consider posting in English communities something that isn't a translation that keeps the "original" way.
Then yes, you perhaps should go with the actual standards. At least if you are considering getting closer to the common writing style and perhaps want to publish like on Amazon or something.
But translated novels often use square brackets because "" dont really exist in chinese and japanese.
「」 Single Quotation Marks
『』 Double Quotation Marks
If you want to stay true to Japanese you might want to use the proper symbols.
Since squre brackets...
Square brackets
Square brackets (also called brackets, especially in American English) are mainly used to enclose words added by someone other than the original writer or speaker, typically in order to clarify the situation:
He [the police officer] can’t prove they did it.
If parentheses or brackets are used at the end of a sentence, the period should be placed outside, as the final punctuation:
They eventually decided to settle in the United States (Debbie's home).
Dante testified that it was the last time he saw them [the missing coins].
I feel like the Japanese webnovels resorted to using brackets because they write from top to bottom. and in that state the " would look like part of the lower character.
If you are writing in English I would expect " to be the standard. There is a reason why they are called quotation marks. Will I complain about them? not likely, unless I feel like the author is trying to write serious, publishable prose. Just as I would expect « » in French.
Which quotation marks to use depends on conventions, really. It'll differ by language, sometimes country, and sometimes even different publishing houses (if we're talking books) will have their own preferences.
Here's an article with some possibilities listed in case anyone is curious about how it's done in other countries: https://uxdesign.cc/start-using-real-quotation-marks-in-ui-design-3343ef90d1f2
Personally, I use square brackets for texts in stories. Like, if characters are messaging via some app or in-game or something like that. Meanwhile, I use quotation marks for the dialog. Direct thoughts are in italics (at least in the ebook and print-version) but those rarely occur. I made those decisions because I wanted to separate dialog and texts since they might occur alongside each other (e.g., a character texting with somebody while talking to somebody else) and are easy to distinguish. On the other hand, too many different symbols can be confusing so italics it was for thoughts to not add yet another pair. So far, it has worked well for me.
Now, based on that: If I saw that correctly, you have quite a few symbols you are using, right? Like, [] for dialog, () and {} for skills, as well as "" for character thoughts if I got this right? Imo, that might be a bit confusing but that also depends on how often everything appears. Rather than the [] and "", I'd probably be more weirded out by the () because those always make it look to me like the thingy inside is more of a comment than necessary info.
In any case, I think readers can get used to something like this as long as you stay consistent with it. As long as it doesn't impact the readability too much, it should be fine.
I feel like the Japanese webnovels resorted to using brackets because they write from top to bottom. and in that state the " would look like part of the lower character.
Well... this is just my personal opinion as a stubborn, prideful writer and person in general, but I'd never kowtow to the demands of my readers simply because they didn't like something I did in my own novel. As an author, making sure your readers are satisfied with what you produce is certainly important, but not to the degree that you should feel the need to change your own intellectual property. After all, your own satisfaction is just as, if not more important, and can largely influence whether or not you can even find the motivation to finish your story.
Er, well, to put that in a better way, it's your story, and you're free to write it however you want regardless of what other people say. Here's something I always tell myself to keep my motivation: For every person who hates what you're doing, ten more will love it, and twenty more won't care either way.
It's all empty words in the end really, but motivation is a big part of writing, at least to me. It's easy to get discouraged when you feel like you need to carry the burden of pleasing everyone, but that kind of thing is just not possible. So my advice, if it's alright to say, is to just do what you want to do without concern for how popular or unpopular it makes you. You can get as many second opinions from others as you want and change whatever you feel needs to be changed, but it all ultimately comes down to how you feel. If you don't think it's worth the effort or just don't want to, then don't. If you do, then do. You'll find people who'll support you either way.
...At least, that's how I feel about it anyway
And I mean seriously, any reader that makes fun of me can kiss my ass and find another novel to read I wouldn't ever have the courage to say that to someone even online, but I'd certainly express it in my own way by continuing to write the story I want to write exactly how I want to write it. Plus I know the feeling of wanting to capture the style of translated web novels in your writing since I (and quite a few people on this site) do the same.
No, from around 2k readers only 4 of them have complained about this issue which one of them made fun of me. I didn't think about it too much, but I wanted to improve myself thats why i tried asking this here. Also yes, I tried using different [ ] for dialogues. " " for character thoughts, and { } ( ) different symbols for the characters skills.
I mean I don't think its that much of a bother but I still needed an opinion about this.
I guess you can consider that a sort of ratio. As I thought, it sounds like a vocal minority. I figure at this point, you might as well keep them if you really want to, but keep an eye on your stats and see if readers start to drop eventually. It may be for other reasons, but it could also mean the silent readers may not like it as well but they're not telling you about it.
You could also try informing future readers that you use brackets instead of quote marks on the synopsis and see if that also causes you to lose readers.
this might sound rude, but things that work for that novel, might not work for yours? I mean go ahead and experiment, I just understand why they can’t stand it much. One thing you should do is read your entire novel and notice if it’s annoying with having [ ]. if not, continue and ignore the comments, and if so, you know more why
No, from around 2k readers only 4 of them have complained about this issue which one of them made fun of me. I didn't think about it too much, but I wanted to improve myself thats why i tried asking this here. Also yes, I tried using different [ ] for dialogues. " " for character thoughts, and { } ( ) different symbols for the characters skills.
I mean I don't think its that much of a bother but I still needed an opinion about this.
I think that the biggest factor here is consistency.
Formicea makes for an interesting example. It uses both quotations (" ") and angle braces (<>), but they two mark different and completely incompatible languages (sound-based human speech versus pheromone-based insect speech).
That said, standard conventions exist for general consistency across an entire language.
I have gotten a few complains from my readers why I use [ ] in dialogues and not " " like every other novel. At first I thought it wouldn't be that much of a deal and I still don't think it is. Most of the readers don't mind it at all. Also I got one more comment demanding me to replace all of the [ ] to " ". And of course i wasn't going to do that because I have written more than 200k words.
So what should I do? Continue using [ ] or change my way of writing dialogues to " " from this point on?
Using brackets [ ] as quotation marks is incorrect and marks you as an amateur. Consistency is bullshit, all that means is you will be consistently wrong. Use the CORRECT markers, "quotation marks," and I promise, no one will complain afterward.
As long as you explain that to the readers at the very beginning of the novel, I see no problem.
For example, in Castillian Spanish, especially in Latin America, we use this:
-You may remove the gloves!- she screamed.
If I were to use that in my own novel, it'd cause confusion because it's not an English standard my audience expects and is used to.
However, the multicultural aspect of the internet can't simply be ignored, and allows for a certain leeway when it comes to web fiction. Especially if it's free... so fuck that reader who demands you change anything.
Using " " is actually the weird and foreign way of showing dialogue that you usually find only in novels the editor didn't bother adapting. But usually when translating novels to PT-BR, the " " are replaced with hyphens.
I kind of had to get used to " " at first, but now it's just as natural as - -, but yeah... communicating to the readers is actually important to make things clear from the get go.
We're sorry, but [ ] for dialogue in English is just straight up wrong on every level of the language. That and you're assuming that the 4 people that said something are the only ones that care about it.
Personally, using brackets over quotation marks is confusing. To me brackets are often associated with in text translation or some other technical usage.
While there's nothing inherently wrong with using brackets in my opinion, it may confuse readers and may limit you if you ever encounter a situation where you would actually use brackets.
