Interesting. To clarify, I guess for me 'says' irritates me because I convert a lot of fics to audio (found a neat program called Ghost Reader). It's a little flat, not the same as a real live person reading it, but it lets me listen to fic during my hour long drive to work. Words that are used over and over jump right out at you when you can hear it all! For some reason 'said' doesn't seem to bother me!
I think you're right that it's a word your eye will skip over and I never noticed in in the fics even after rereading them. It was only once it became audio that I noticed.
I think it makes a difference whether the substitute for "says" adds any new information, or is only the writer's desperate attempt to add "elegant variation."
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I think you're right that it's a word your eye will skip over and I never noticed in in the fics even after rereading them. It was only once it became audio that I noticed.
"Shut Up," He Explained
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That makes a lot of sense.
I haven't really gotten into the whole podfic craze so I have no idea how I'd react to the same fic in written and verbal format.