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I'm going to disagree with your original premise. I'm assuming from what you wrote ("am writing a manuscript... it's my first attempt") that this is the first draft. If it is the first draft, I w...
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#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/3778 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
I'm going to disagree with your original premise. I'm assuming from what you wrote ("am writing a manuscript... it's my first attempt") that this is the first draft. If it is the first draft, I would suggest that you just put in the words you think of and keep writing. The key of this part is to get the story told, not necessarily worry about exactly how it is told. When you get to the revision stage, you can look at the chapter/section/excerpt and see if you are using the phrase too often, and if you are you can decide which places you want to change, and which to leave the same. Then you can have other readers look it over as well to give you more feedback about if they are obtrusive or not.