The Dual Timeline

How and Why? with Jillian Forsberg

About the Workshop

Dual timeline novels continue to grow in popularity. But how do you effectively write two narratives in one work? And why would you want to in the first place? Learn how to create separate but compelling narratives that work to enhance one another including: connecting protagonists, illuminating the past through a present timeline, and navigating the narrative flow of different worlds in one novel.

The Basics

Where: Zoom Video Communications Platform
When: Monday, January 27, 2025, 7pm - 8pm US Central Time
Length: 60 minutes
Number of Participants: Unlimited
Cost: $19
Add-on: Get a signed copy of The Rhino Keeper by Jillian Forsberg

About Your Instructor

Jillian Forsberg is a historian and author with a master’s degree in public history from Wichita State University. Her research on little-known historical events led her to discover the true story behind her first novel, The Rhino Keeper. In addition to being the former editor for Wichita State’s The Fairmont Folio, Jillian is an essayist whose articles have been published in academic journals. With a passion for 18th-century history, Jillian can also be found gardening, exploring antique malls, or reading every label at a museum. Vintage dresses are Jillian's clothing of choice, except when she's at the zoo. She lives in Wichita, Kansas, with her husband, child, and pets. Her second novel, The Porcelain Menagerie, is forthcoming from History Through Fiction on October 21, 2025.

About The Rhino Keeper

Experience the enchantment of The Rhino Keeper, where a student’s quest and captain’s bond with a rhino transcend the ages. 

2022 – College student Andrea Clarkson uncovers a historical mystery while studying abroad in Holland. From hidden desk drawers come unusual historical documents featuring a rhinoceros. On a lichen-covered eighteenth-century grave, the same animal is carved. When an expanding river forces exhumation, what she finds buried there is life-changing. Andrea faces her nightmares to retrieve what a grave robber steals: valuable proof of a long-forgotten history.

1740 – Ship captain Douwemout van der Meer has something not seen in two hundred years: the only rhino in Europe, called Clara. Douwemout and Clara tour Europe, enthralling peasants and queens, hoping to change popular views that rhinos are man-eating beasts. Absolute wonder follows, but when a priest sees idol worship and becomes hell-bent on destroying her, Clara, Douwe, and the lives of her bonded caretakers are at risk.