I see a lot of new writers struggling with pacing dialogue so here's some tips. First off, unlearn your distaste for "said." If you need to quickly remind readers who is speaking without distracting them, put "said."
Second, if the dialogue is meant to be happening rapidly, cut tags out for several lines. Example:
"Don't play dumb with me. Hand it over."
"Not until you give me the keys."
See how quickly this moves? Every beat is another piece of dialogue, feeding the exchange back and forth. We can slow this down by adding tags that carry some description. This makes the reader spend longer on the passage. Example:
"Give me the map," she demanded, holding out her hand.
"What map?" he asked, face a picture of perfect innocence.
"Don't play dumb with me," she said.
See how much slower this exchange feels now? We didn't add any new information and yet the beats have totally changed. Think of description as something that adds time. To demonstrate, consider this example:
"Don't play dumb with me. Hand it over."
He didn't answer right away. "Not until you give me the keys," he said finally.
How do we make the reader pause in a more natural and effective way? By adding description and tags. Example:
"Don't play dumb with me," she spat, voice dripping venom. "Hand it over."
He stared at her outstretched hand, palm empty. Somewhere in the distance, a coyote howled.
"Not until you give me the keys," he said with a sigh.
See? Without using a single time indicator, we showed a pause, by slowing down the reader and filling those beats with description. Remember that people visualize at the same speed they read. If you need to slow them down, make them read more words. For faster, more intense exchanges, skip all but necessary clarifying tags, as in the very first example.
Lastly, consider the rhythm of your passage. See this example:
"Give me the map," she spat, hand outstretched.
"What map?" he asked, shrugging.
"Don't play dumb with me," she said, narrowing her eyes.
This is repetitive. Avoid using the same pattern of tags and description two or more times in a row. You can fix this by reworking your passage to include more or different descriptions, but for a quick fix, try changing the tags into stand alone sentences and/or moving them before the dialogue. To fix the passage above, we might try this:
"Give me the map," she spat, hand outstretched.
"Don't play dumb with me," she said. Her eyes narrowed.
See how much more natural that is? And we changed nothing but the order and punctuation. Removing the repetition helps you avoid pulling the reader out of the story by reminding them that they're reading. A good dialogue passage should be remembered in your reader's minds as a movie scene.
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