Craft Talk: On Pacing Dialogue
Getting dialogue to sparkle means polishing lot of tricky little facets, one of which is pace. Too slow and readers get bored. Too fast and you'll leave them behind while the conversation gallops away. Here are a few techniques I've used to keep a sequence of dialogue moving exactly how I want it.
Plain dialogue reads quickly. Think of a film or theater script, all those clever quips lined up one after the other. Chop, chop, chop.
But reading quickly might not be the effect you're trying to achieve, so one of the techniques at your disposal is description. A little extra time spent lingering on the details of the setting or characters will slow a scene down and give it time to breathe—which can be a particularly effective way to build tension when the reader knows an important conversation is on the way.
Example beginning of a scene, fast pace: