Few novelists have mastered the art of weaving two timelines into one story as beautifully as New York Times–bestselling author Rachel Hauck. From The Wedding Dress to The Writing Desk, Hauck has captivated readers with stories that bridge generations, linking the hopes, heartbreaks, and faith of characters separated by time but united by purpose. Her novel Once Upon a Prince (affiliate link), was made into an original Hallmark movie.

Split-time fiction is currently very popular. The genre resonates deeply with modern readers, but how authors can balance two plots, two settings, and two arcs? I asked Rachel.

How did you get your first book contract?

Rachel: I got my first contract at a writers conference. I met someone who said, “Hey, let’s write a book together.” It was one of those little Heartsong romances.

I had probably been writing for about nine years at that time, though not consecutively. I had written a World War II tome that ended up in a closet. Then, I met my cowriter at a conference. She talked to her editor, and they decided to have me co-write a book with them.

Thomas: It’s incredible how common that story is. Many authors struggle because they’re unwilling to put away that first book. For almost every author, that first book must be shelved.

Have you ever resurrected it now that you’re a successful, New York Times–bestselling author? Or is it still in the closet?

Rachel: I actually used part of it for Love Starts with L. I had a character who was writing a book, and I didn’t have time to invent one for him. So I stole from myself.

Thomas: So you gave your terrible first book to one of your characters and let him write it? That’s funny.

Rachel: There are moments of genius in that book that I haven’t recreated anywhere else, and moments of badness I’m glad to have eliminated. But there are still some really nice parts in it.

What is split-time fiction?

Rachel: Some people confuse split time with slip time. Slip time suggests time travel, where characters move through time. Split time is a story told in two different timelines. One is usually historical and the other contemporary. Authors like Beatriz Williams might only separate the timelines by a few years. A split-time story is simply a story with two related plots that each take place during a different time.

Why did you start writing stories with two timelines?

Thomas: Why make your life harder with two sets of characters?

Rachel: I thought I was making it easier! I’d read The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner, set during the Salem witch trials and in contemporary California. I loved looking at history through the eyes of a modern character while also being in the heart and mind of the historical one.

When I wrote The Wedding Dress, I wanted to tell the story of the dress’s origin and the modern character who discovered it. I love thinking about how my grandmother’s actions in 1920 might shape my life today.

What did your ancestors do in their time that affects your life now? If you could see it, wouldn’t you want to? That’s my fascination with split time.

Why is split-time fiction trending?

Thomas: It’s fascinating to see how popular split time has become—not just in books, but in TV shows. Lost used it, showing characters in both present and past timelines. Once Upon a Time did it with fairytale characters in modern settings. Even superhero shows like Arrow used split-time storytelling.

Why do you think the trend is growing?

Rachel: I think it’s grown in film and TV because of technology. We can make characters look younger or older, like Captain America before and after his transformation. Filmmakers can tint the screen to signal different eras.

As for fiction, readers like it, and authors are always looking for a unique hook to set them apart. Many have read split-time novels they loved and then developed stories that fit that genre. That’s why I believe split-time fiction is on the rise.

What challenges do authors face when writing split time?

Rachel: The biggest challenge is giving each character their own complete story while finding a compelling way to connect them. It can’t always be grandmother–granddaughter. You have to create a unique link that ties the timelines together.

You must show how the modern character impacts the one from the past, and vice versa, even if they never meet. You have to plant those little seeds in each storyline. That’s the hardest part.

How can a modern character affect someone in the past without time travel?

Rachel: In my book The Writing Desk, the character from the past had an unfulfilled dream. The modern character discovered her unpublished manuscript and published it posthumously, fulfilling her dream. So it can be done; I’ve proved it!

Thomas: The Bible says there’s nothing new under the sun. The idea of generational quests isn’t new, though it feels fresh to us. Ancient Romans understood this deeply. They took on their fathers’ names, alliances, and patrons.

In wealthy Roman homes, you’d find a gallery of ancestors as masks or statues with titles and achievements. Children grew up walking past them daily, seeing themselves as extensions of those ancestors. They were driven to honor them through their actions. That’s partly why Roman soldiers were so courageous. They didn’t want to dishonor the lineage represented in those masks. That sense of legacy fueled both their greatness and their downfall.

As Americans, we’ve adopted many Roman ideals, such as our architecture, our Senate, and even our political vocabulary. It’s fascinating to see how other aspects of Roman culture are seeping back into ours.

Rachel: I love that. I just got a story idea—a son or daughter walking past those masks, wondering, “How will I ever measure up?”

Thomas: Exactly. And it was definitely the men. Roman culture was deeply chauvinistic. They didn’t invent it, but they leaned into it.

Rachel: True, but women did have some rights, especially with a husband’s approval. We see that reflected in Scripture with Lydia, the seller of purple. She was a successful businesswoman. So Roman women had more freedom than we might think, though still not like today.

Thomas: Good point. Romans also practiced a form of monogamy, which benefited women. Instead of one powerful man hoarding wives and concubines, they valued the relationship between one man and one woman. It turned out to be a much healthier model for society.

What are some roadblocks to watch out for when writing split-time stories?

Thomas: What are the warning signs that an author didn’t do their research?

Rachel: Anytime you’re writing a historical section, you must do your research. Some authors forget they’re not writing a full historical novel. The historical portions need to be accurate to the time period but still have a touch of modern flair, such as in Downton Abbey. It’s clearly historical, but it feels modern.

You also have to stay true to the voice of the era you’re writing in. For the contemporary part, remember that your modern character can’t know what you know about the past. There’s a tendency to overtell, to explain too much. Instead, be creative about how you weave hints of the past into the modern story. Look for those echoes and subtle moments where the contemporary character discovers bits and pieces about the person from history.

How can authors make historical connections feel natural?

Thomas: Modern Americans rarely think about their ancestors. We don’t have halls of statues or share our ancestors’ names like people once did. So when a modern character seems obsessed with genealogy, it can feel contrived. That kind of curiosity usually develops later in life.

Two of my great-grandfathers wrote memoirs near the end of their lives, gathering all the genealogical information they could, which was very helpful to our family. But your average twenty-something romance heroine isn’t spending her time digging through ancestry sites.

Rachel: That’s so true. The contemporary character has her own issues. She’s not worried about what Great Aunt Betty did; she’s dealing with her own struggles and goals.

In The Memory House, the heroine is an angry, bitter cop in New York City who gets suspended for punching a suspect. Then she finds out she’s inherited a house in Florida from someone she barely remembers. She goes there just to figure out why this woman—whom she can’t even recall—left her the house. That’s her motivation. She’s not looking for family connections, but the story draws her in anyway.

How can authors make old stories feel modern?

Thomas: I like that approach. It’s one of the ways you make an old story feel modern. Some people think those in the “good old days” didn’t struggle with sin or temptation like we do now, but that’s nonsense. Every generation has its challenges, and they’re not all that different from one another.

Societies sometimes repent from certain sins and stay that way for a while. Western civilization, for example, has had to repent from slavery twice. The Catholic Church opposed it as early as the 700s, and for centuries, slavery largely disappeared, though serfdom remained. Then by the 1600s, slavery came back, and it took another 400 years to abolish it again.

But if you look at individual lives, people were still wrestling with lust, greed, pride, and anger—the same sins we battle today. Read sermons from a thousand years ago, and you’ll find the same messages. That’s how you make historical characters feel real and modern.

Rachel: Absolutely. That’s what Downton Abbey does so well. They explored women’s rights, same-sex attraction, and even abortion, which are all topics that are still relevant today. No matter how you personally feel about those issues, the show handled them in a way that felt authentic and human.

When you write historical fiction, you can do the same thing. The emotions behind these struggles, whether fear, shame, or hope, are timeless. Whether it’s 1820 or 2020, the human heart reacts in similar ways.

Thomas: People back then weren’t dull or gloomy. We suspect that because they didn’t smile in photos, but those early photos took so long to capture that people had to hold still. In reality, they were happy, normal people. Read their journals, and you’ll see joy, laughter, and sorrow. They even lived through pandemics, just like we have.

Rachel: That would make the perfect setup for a split-time novel. The protagonist could be someone today living through a pandemic, discovering their ancestor faced the same fears during the Spanish flu or the Black Death. Quarantining isn’t new. It’s how humans have fought disease for centuries.

There really is nothing new under the sun. That’s the heart of split-time stories. Settings and characters change, but what God is doing in human hearts doesn’t. It’s fascinating to see how people in another era faced the same struggles we do.

Rachel: I once had a woman in Germany write me after reading The Writing Desk. She said she felt so connected to my Gilded Age character, Birdie, that it inspired her to pursue a dream she’d abandoned forty years earlier. Birdie didn’t know what an iPhone or television was, but her story still resonated because her emotions were real.

What mistakes do Christian authors make when writing split-time stories?

Thomas: Are there mistakes you often see Christian authors make when writing split time that are unique to the Christian market?

Rachel: Not unique to split time, but to Christian writing in general. The biggest mistake is putting the message before the story. The story must come first, and the message should emerge naturally.

I never start with a Bible verse or a theme. I start with the story and ask, “God, what do you want me to say through this?” The Holy Spirit fills the cracks. Even if I never explicitly say, “Jesus is Lord,” He’s reflected in the story because I’m reflected in the story. Let the story breathe, and let God speak through it.

Thomas: “Show, don’t tell” is great writing advice, but it’s also the essence of witnessing for Christ. A witness doesn’t just talk; they show what they’ve seen. It’s harder, but it’s far more powerful.

Rachel: As St. Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the gospel at all times; if necessary, use words.”

Thomas: There’s definitely a time for words when preaching the gospel, and as storytellers, we hold immense creative power. We build whole worlds and populate them with people.

When God created Adam, He told him to name the animals, which was an act of creation. That ability to create is one of the ways we reflect God. Jesus even quoted the Psalms, saying, “You are gods.” We are little creators, lowercase “g,” shaping worlds through story. That’s a huge responsibility. We must be Christlike as we do it.

Rachel: I’m also a worship leader, and last summer I was watching WorshipU, a livestream from Bethel Music in California. Brian Johnson played a country love song he’d written and asked Chris Tomlin to help him finish it right there.

As he sang, I started weeping. God wasn’t mentioned in the lyrics at all, yet His presence filled the room because it flowed through the songwriter. That’s what we do as Christian authors. People can feel the presence of God in our stories even when His name isn’t spoken.

I always say, if I’m seated with Christ and my characters are seated in me, then my characters are seated in Christ.

Thomas: Or at least near Him.

What advice do you have for split-time authors?

Rachel: Make sure you tell a complete story in both timelines—the historical and the contemporary—and leave room at the end to join the two. You’re looking at a novel of at least 100,000 words. You won’t be able to tell both stories well in 80,000 or 90,000 words. That’s one of the biggest challenges we face.

Is split-time writing different for Christian authors?

Thomas: Is split time different at all for Christian authors? Because God is a character present in both stories to some degree, which isn’t the case in secular split time. How does that change things, or does it?

Rachel: It can be different. One thing to remember is that not every character can have a spiritual epiphany. You usually have two heroes and two heroines, so you’re developing two romances and two arcs. You also need to show some revelation of God in each storyline, but focus on one as the predominant spiritual thread. Usually, that’s the contemporary character, and she ties the stories together.

How can writers stay creative during a crisis?

Thomas: You’re writing during the pandemic and maybe promoting during it. What tips do you have for writers whose lives have been turned upside down and who are trying to create in such an uncertain time?

Rachel: Looking back over the last fifteen years, there’s been a lot of upheaval. I think of the stock market crash in 2008, wars, and other crises. I remember writing An American Girl Who Falls in Love with a Prince and thinking, “Who cares? The world is falling apart, and I’m writing a fairytale romance.” But stories like that touch people’s hearts and give them hope.

So even in this season, write a story that brings hope. Go to the Lord, get hope from Him, and then write. Since we’re all sheltered in place, you’re not going anywhere. It’s the perfect time to put your butt in the chair and write your book.

Thomas: All your excuses have been taken away by the government.

Rachel: Exactly! No lunches, no meetings, no writer groups. Conferences and book shows have been canceled. So stay home, write your book, and give hope to people.

Thomas: People are looking for an escape right now. They’re not necessarily seeking pandemic stories, though I’m sure some readers will. Most people are craving a break from the news that provides a serene, imaginative space to breathe.

The Hobbit was written during World War I. The Chronicles of Narnia came after World War II. Times of turmoil often produce the best literature because readers and writers alike need that sense of wonder and hope.

Rachel: Yesterday, my husband and I spent eight hours pressure washing the outside of the house. While he was working and I was taking a break, I started daydreaming about my book. It was quiet except for the hum of the washer and the wind blowing, and my imagination just started going. That’s where the best ideas come from.

In this quiet season, take advantage of it. Look beyond the crisis toward hope, dream about your story, and write it.

Thomas: TV shows and movies have stopped production because being on a set is risky right now. No new films are being made. Some finished ones may be released, but if this lockdown continues, people will crave new stories.

Authors can give them those stories, and this is our moment. Some writers will seize it, while others will huddle in fear, watching the news 24/7. But watching the news won’t protect you or make you healthier. It will only drain your joy and energy that could be used to write stories that bring hope and escape.

And the first person your story will give hope to is you. Writing brings light to the writer first.

Rachel: And that’s the beauty of split time. You can look back at the Spanish flu or the world wars and see how people survived, then say, “I can survive too.”

How do stories of the past inspire perseverance?

Thomas: One of the first people drafted for World War I was my great-grandfather. He likely would have been killed in the trenches, but during a parade, he collapsed and became one of the first in his unit to contract the Spanish flu. He recovered quickly and spent the rest of the war serving as an orderly because he was immune. He survived—and I’m here because of that.

Rachel: That’s a great split-time story.

Thomas: You’re welcome to steal it. I’ll be available for interviews.

What final encouragement would you give to writers?

Rachel: Just keep writing. Don’t get discouraged. Really.

Connect With Rachel

• Website: RachelHauck.com
• Instagram: @RachelHauck
• Twitter: @RachelHauck
• Facebook @RachelHauck

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