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gmw: I also use text to speech software to read back what I've written. I use Balabolka with an installed voice: Audrey (British). Until you pointed it out I hadn't noticed the hard 'said' but Audrey has a softer voice than the US ones.
The software I'm using (I'm sure this applies to all text to voice software) enables you to adjust the pauses, if any, between punctuation, paragraphs etc.
But I think you're right. Any word used repeatedly draws attention to itself. I can't remember which of Dickens' books it's in, but I remember reading a passage where the word 'fog' is used frequently for emphasis. If you want to emphasize a concept, this is great, but isn't 'said' supposed to be 'invisible'?
I don't know how or why the idea that alternatives to 'said' are verbotten (spelling?) came about; personally I consider this a silly idea and will happily use more descriptive alternatives IF a tag is needed.
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