In an effort to provide my wonderful beta readers with less work (it's not easy coaching a newbie!), I have been keeping an eye out for interesting information about writing. I found this article by Louis E. Catron: "Keep Attribution Simple". It has everything you ever wanted to know about the word 'said'. Useful and amusing!
http://lecatr.people.wm.edu/Keep_Attribution_Simple_article.htm
http://lecatr.people.wm.edu/Keep_Attribution_Simple_article.htm