How do I keep good pacing across a whole long edit?

Pacing a single scene is one thing; holding rhythm across a whole long piece is another, and it defeats many skilled editors. A long work breathes over minutes and acts, not just cuts. Feeling that this escapes you means you have started listening at the scale where the hard, real work of pacing actually lives. Rhythm across a long piece is about contrast and rest. Audiences cannot stay tense or fast for an hour; they need valleys to feel the peaks. The drag you fear often comes not from slow moments but from too many similar ones in a row. Think in waves, tension and release, not a single steady pace held forever. Try watching your whole cut once with your eyes half closed, feeling only the energy rise and fall. Mark where it flattens. Then shape those stretches, not individual cuts. Learning to feel the long shape takes many passes. Give yourself the patience to hear the whole song, not just the notes.