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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31474
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31474
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

You never want to slow down the pace of a story. Pace is everything. But pace is not about rushing to the exits. A pace is a comfortable speed at which to see all the scenery and experience everything that the journey has to offer. If the pace feels too rushed, this is not about the speed per se, it is about missing the key experiences of the journey.

The issue, therefore, is not pace, it is missing experience. But to fix that, you have to figure out what parts of the experience are missing. Different stories involve very different kinds of experience, so there is no blanket statement anyone can make to say that you must add 6 cups of this or two teaspoons of that.

Adding material that is not part of the key experience of the story will slow the pace, but it will fill the gaps with things that are boring and irrelevant. You have to find and show the stuff that really matters.

There can be two issues (that I can think of) that could lead your story to lack these essential details.

1. You don't actually have a story. You have a plot or a story idea. But stories are not merely the expression of an idea or a plot. Stories are experiences and they happen to individual people. Stories are real and particular. There are only a few plots. Boy meets girl a billion times. That is a plot, and the same plot is used a billion times. A story is when this particular boy meets that particular girl in this particular place and that particular time. Until it is concrete and personal, it is not a story. 

2. You have a story, but you suffer from the [curse of knowledge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_knowledge). You have not yet figured out what to say and what not to say to convey the concrete and personal experience of your story to the reader. There is no universal formula for this because the elements that make one story concrete and personal are not the same as those that make another story concrete and personal. You have to try to put yourself in the reader's place and imagine the effect you words would have on them. Extensive reading is the best way to train your ear and your sensibilities so that you can figure out what needs to be said to get your story across. 

Original score: 17