Can someone assist me with pacing?

I feel like out of all of the writing conventions that I've learned and stored away in my head for creative writing, the one thing that consistently trips me up is pacing. I don't trust myself to understand how to pace a story, as sometimes the things seem to go by too quickly from one thing to the next, and other times I seem to linger on things nobody actually cares about. Would anyone care to give me some advice on how to monitor my pacing and figure out how slowly or quickly I need to go through things?

Make a list of all the important things that happen in the story.

Now I want you to excise the things that can be removed without any real detriment (meaning that they don't add anything to plot, characterization, exposition, or setting).

Then I want you to order everything by importance after that.

The most important things are going to be what you're going to put the meat of your description and detail. The least important are still going to be there, but receive less attention.

You now have a decently paced story.

edited 10th Aug '12 8:28:29 PM by Thelostcup