Netflix's Heartstopper has become an internet sensation for fans of young adult stories and TV shows, providing a comforting queer high school romance anyone can enjoy. The series was created by Alice Oseman in 2016 as a webcomic, one that's also now available for physical purchase.

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Oseman is a successful author who wrote and illustrated all 5 volumes of the comic, keeping up with updates since the very beginning. While the Netflix series has been a hit, there's still so much to explore — be it the story's origins as a web series or the characters themselves.

10 Heartstopper Was Originally Uploaded To Tumblr

Heartstopper title cover art from the official Tumblr page

One of Heartstopper's biggest appeals was its accessible nature. From the beginning, Alice Oseman made sure it was available for anyone to read online. Oseman would upload every 1st, 11th, and 21st of the month to Tumblr, Tapas, and Webtoons, lending the story to an intense amount of fan interaction and anticipation.

Eventually, the comics would be published into zines Oseman would sell on their art page. Later, they would be published in volumes and sold in retail stores like Target, which only proved the everlasting success of the franchise.

9 Oseman Didn't Create Heartstopper As A Main Series

Heartstopper

In an interview done on Tumblr, Alice Oseman explained how Heartstopper was more of a passion project they did to bring happiness to themselves, as well as queer audiences. Since Oseman was already a published author, they started self-publishing the webcomic because it was a story they wanted to tell, not expecting anybody to read it at first.

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Oseman enjoyed the characters enough to tell Nick and Charlie's story without prior reason or fan demand. From the beginning, their intentions behind Heartstopper were always to tell a fun, romantic story.

8 Charlie Spring Was Originally From The Novel Solitaire

Charlie Spring artwork from Heartstopper webcomic vol 1

Solitaire is the first novel written and published by Alice Oseman in 2014, with the character Victoria "Tori" Spring as the main character. Debuting as Tori's younger sibling in the novel, Charlie later became the lead in Oseman's webcomic. After writing her first novel, Oseman wanted to revisit Charlie's character in depth. Heartstopper is a prequel to Solitaire, telling Nick and Charlie's story and the development of their relationship before they officially get together. Whereas in Solitaire, the Nick and Charlie are already a couple.

7 The Existence Of The Oseman Universe

photos of Charlie and Tori Spring from Heartstopper Netflix Series TV show

The "Oseman Universe" is the name given to the stories and characters created by Alice Oseman, all of which take place in the same universe, all happening around the same time. This universe includes the novels Solitaire, Radio Silence, I Was Born For This, and Loveless, along with the web series Heartstopper and Party Girls.

While fans have noted that it's unique to have a contemporary extended universe within the YA genre, the Oseman Universe has many fans who love to discuss all of Oseman's bodies of work together as one.

6 The Oseman Universe's Unique Timeline

Darcy, Nick, Tara, Elle, and Sahar from Heartstopper webcomic in a group drawing

While the Oseman Universe became a unique experience to behold and one many found enjoyable, there were a few interesting things surrounding its timeline. The events of Solitaire took place in 2011, which meant Heartstopper should take place in 2010.

However, Heartstopper is written to take place at the time it was written, which is 2016. Luckily, the enjoyment of the Oseman Universe isn't spoiled by this disparity in any way; it's just an interesting thing to explore when one is discussing Alice Oseman's work.

5 Nick And Charlie (A Heartstopper Novella)

Older Nick and Charlie holding a puppy in Heartstopper webcomic

A whole year before Heartstopper was created, Alice Oseman had already created a spin-off piece of media for Nick and Charlie. Nick and Charlie was a novella published in 2015 as a continuation of Solitaire, following the couple as Nick headed off to university and exploring what might become of their relationship.

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For Oseman, the novella was one of the first signs which hinted the characters could have a stand-alone series people would enjoy. The short story gave people a small taste of what she had in store for these characters, one which would explode into the sensation fans know today.

4 Alice Oseman Wrote The Screenplay For The Netflix Series

Alice Oseman Heartstopper art for Netflix adaptation announcement

When Heartstopper was set to become a Netflix series, Oseman originally thought she wouldn't have much involvement in the adaptation process. So when the production company asked them to write the screenplay, she was very excited, even though Oseman had never written a screenplay before.

Oseman was heavily involved in the adaptation process of Heartstopper, them being the final word on casting and almost everything involving adaptational changes to the series. This aspect of the show pleased fans who were original followers of the webcomic.

3 Changes Were Made For The Netflix Series

Charlie and Nick walking down the street in Heartstopper

Oseman stated in an interview that changes to the original source material were necessary when creating the Netflix series. While the overall plot line and characters remained the same, expanding upon the side characters and fan favorites was the show creator's initial intention going forward.

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Giving side characters Tao, Elle, Tara, and Darcy more to do within the show was one of the biggest changes Oseman made when writing the script. The fans who loved the small glimpses of those characters' lives were very happy to see them share in the spotlight.

2 Some Pages Of Heartstopper Were Re-drawn

Alice Oseman Heartstopper art drawn in 2016 to support their Patreon

Heartstopper was originally published in September 2016. A year later in January 2017, physical copies of the story were released. The chapters of the webcomic written before the physical announcement were re-drawn and improved in preparation for the wide release.

Since Heartstopper was always a passion project, Oseman's art was something only done for fun and in between their authorship. Once the story picked up steam and was offered a physical release, Oseman chose to clean up the artwork and update all previous chapters of the series for the physical copy to be released.

1 The Heartstopper Webcomic Is Currently On Hiatus

Heartstopper-Nick-and-Charlie-best-LGBT-couples-in-history (1)

In May 2022, Alice Oseman announced on Tumblr that Heartstopper would be going on hiatus for the next following months. She stated this was due to burnout and stress which had been affecting their mental health for some time, and that a break was needed.

Fans have been very supportive of this decision and have praised Oseman for taking the time to improve their mental and physical well-being, instead of attempting to push forward. Since Heartstopper discussed mental health and taking the steps to improve oneself, it only makes sense the creator of the series would take their advice and do the same.