HeartstopperCreator Alice Oseman Says Success as a Writer Was ‘A Wonderful Surprise’ (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Alice Oseman and the cover of ‘Heartstopper’.Photo:Graphix; Scott Garfitt/BAFTA via Getty

Graphix; Scott Garfitt/BAFTA via Getty

Alice Oseman, like so many young readers before her, had a teenage phase of reading classic literature.“I thought it was important,” Oseman, 29, tells PEOPLE. “Intelligent to do so. I was very intoThe Catcher in the Ryewhen I was, like, 15. Read that several times.”Oseman, who uses she/they pronouns, also adds that the 1951 J. D. Salinger classic influenced her own writing career.

“That all kind of led to me writingSolitaire, my first book, which I wrote when I was 17,” she says.Now, Oseman is the best-selling author of books for young adults, including the acclaimed graphic novel seriesHeartstopper.As the series celebrates its 5 year anniversary, Oseman is both looking back on her writing career and looking forward.

A young reader and writer

Alice Oseman.Scott Garfitt/BAFTA via Getty

Scott Garfitt/BAFTA via Getty

Raised near Kent, England, Oseman came of age during a boom in young adult literature, when authors likeStephanie Meyersand Suzanne Collins reigned supreme.“John Green, I think, was the first time I’d seen a contemporary YA author write the kind of serious drama-style books that I eventually wrote myself,” Oseman says. She sold her debut novel,Solitaire, in 2014 when she was only 18 years old.

Oseman’s novels have since grown a dedicated fanbase, particularly for her realistic portrayal of teenage life and LGBTQ+ representation.Radio Silence,which was published in 2016, stars two classmates that start a podcast, and 2018’sI Was Born for Thisfocuses on a teenage pop rock band.Loveless,which hit shelves in 2020,gives a perceptive look at one teenager’s experience with starting university.

Of her start, Oseman says that she was simply writing stories about a world she didn’t often see represented at the time — life in all-girls school in the U.K. — and that her age worked to her advantage.

“I was very much writing the world and the life that I was familiar with,” Oseman says. “About people like me, people like my friends…it was just very cemented in the life that I was experiencing at that time.”

The birth of ‘Heartstopper’

Joe Locke (left) and Kit Connor in season two of ‘Heartstopper’.Netflix

Netflix

“I don’t write autobiographical fiction”

Oseman on the set of ‘Heartstopper’.Netflix

Another difficult aspect of the writing process, Oseman says, can be implementing self-care as an author.“I’m not very good at that,” she says. “I am definitely not very good at that sort of work-life balance. It is difficult because I really want to express myself in my writing and it is hard to find a healthy balance of doing that versus putting too much of yourself on the page sometimes.”While Oseman does write about topics and characters that are familiar to her, there are limits to how much of herself she will put on the page.

“In terms of what I’m writing, I like to explore issues and ideas that are relevant to my own life, but I always try and do it in a fictional way,” she says. “I don’t write autobiographical fiction. I explore things through characters who are not me and through events that have not happened to me. And that helps to keep the distance a little bit.”

What’s next for the ‘Osemanverse’

A scene from the Netflix adaptation of ‘Heartstopper’.Samuel Dore/Netflix

Samuel Dore/Netflix

Before her rise to YA fame, Oseman found a community online. She originally posted her work on the website Tumblr, where she began to grow a following. Though the author haspreviously statedthat she can’t interact with fans as extensively as before, she is far from stingy about sharing material from the aptly-named “Osemanverse” — herwebsitehosts numerous goodies, including fictional Wikipedia pages and bonus short stories about her characters.As for what’s next for Oseman, there’s news forHeartstopperfans. The author shares that she is working on the sixth, and final, installment of the series; something she admits feels “a little bit scary” as she anticipates reader reactions. She is also thinking about entirely new writing ventures.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.Still, the success of her work, Oseman says, remains “beyond my wildest dreams.”“I don’t think any author can really anticipate that,” she says. “That’s been the biggest surprise, but it’s a wonderful surprise.”

source: people.com