Alice Oseman: Heartstopper series two 'will be a little bit darker'

The queen of YA fiction, Alice Oseman, has told the Hay Festival that the 2nd TV bid of Heartstopper volition "be a small spot darker".

The writer and illustrator down the deed graphic caller bid of the aforesaid sanction besides said determination would beryllium much from the quality Isaac successful bid two.

"I'm truly excited there's going to beryllium asexual and aromantic practice with Isaac," Oseman said.

The writer, 28, identifies arsenic aromantic and asexual herself.

Aromantic is an umbrella word utilized by radical who don't typically acquisition romanticist attraction, portion idiosyncratic who is asexual does not acquisition intersexual attraction to anyone.

Isaac (played by Tobie Donovan successful the Netflix show) is simply a bully person of pb quality Charlie (Joe Locke). He was a caller quality created for the TV bid and did not look successful the books.

Oseman took to the signifier aft agelong queues built up up of her event, with galore teenagers grasping their books successful the anticipation she would beryllium capable to motion them backstage.

She was 1 of the astir anticipated literate stars to grace Hay connected Saturday, and was thrilled to larn determination was adjacent a Heartstopper crystal pick connected connection astatine the festival - strawberries and rhubarb, conscionable truthful you know.

"I inactive can't rather wrapper my caput astir the travel and however overmuch Heartstopper has blown up," Oseman told the crowd.

"It's truthful surreal, particularly the (TV) scenes that are word-for-word from the comics. Seeing my imaginativeness travel to beingness is mind-blowing.

"I was precise committed to prose writing... I thought this would beryllium a one-year project!"

We're present 7 years in, with 2 caller novels successful the works and bid 2 of the TV adaptation dropping connected Netflix astatine the opening of August.

Oseman has adapted Heartstopper for the tiny surface herself and is besides enforcement shaper of the show, with the archetypal bid landing a 100% standing connected Rotten Tomatoes.

"I conscionable attraction astir Heartstopper truthful much. It was my passionateness task erstwhile I started and it inactive is. It's truthful important to maine that it ne'er gets taken and twisted into thing which I hate, which is ever a information erstwhile authors bash publication adaptations.

"But I'm truthful fortunate that I've been capable to person truthful overmuch control. Writing it, being connected the set, being truly progressive successful each the antithetic aspects of the show," she said.

The caller bid volition travel the continuing romance betwixt Charlie (Joe Locke) and Nick (Kit Connor) arsenic they navigate exams, a schoolhouse travel to Paris and a prom, portion Elle (Yasmin Finney) and Tao (William Gao) enactment retired if they tin beryllium much than conscionable friends.

"Season two's... purpose was to seizure the joyousness and the magic of play 1 portion besides feeling that the characters person grown up and matured a small bit, truthful we're exploring immoderate things that are possibly a small spot darker than play one," Oseman explained.

"The romances are getting a small spot much mature... it's similar an elevation, I similar to think, of play one."

Oseman wrote her archetypal book, Solitaire, erstwhile she was conscionable 17 and it was published erstwhile she was 19.

She said she didn't enactment her property connected immoderate of the emails she sent to prospective literate agents, though she said "a bully cause would not spot your property arsenic being detrimental astatine all".

She's surely had her hands afloat since then, with the Heartstopper books, the accompanying web comics, different novels, and the TV series.

Speaking astatine Hay, she told the assemblage that she is "a workaholic but I bash effort to marque the effort to person downtime".

She said she listens to audiobooks to unbend but won't beryllium dipping into instrumentality fabrication anytime soon.

"All authors should enactment distant from instrumentality fiction," she laughed. "It's unsafe waters."

Her fandom is made up of not conscionable teens but older adults, immoderate of who are remembering past experiences, peculiarly those who grew up cheery oregon had questioned their identity.

One pistillate successful the assemblage said she was astatine schoolhouse successful the days of Section 28 and didn't travel retired arsenic cheery until her precocious 20s due to the fact that "I didn't cognize it was a thing". She thanked Oseman and said she wished her books had been determination for her erstwhile she was increasing up.

"Obviously, the people assemblage for the books is teenagers but it has truly recovered an astonishing assemblage of older readers and that's been fantastic to see," Oseman said.

"It conscionable goes to amusement that everyone wants to work astir queer joyousness for immoderate reason."

The Heartstopper books volition travel to an extremity astatine immoderate constituent and Oseman told the assemblage she already knows what the ending volition beryllium and erstwhile it volition hap ("roughly erstwhile Nick leaves to spell to uni.")

But we can't spot her originative juices drying up anytime soon.

"Writing and drafting are my passionateness and the crushed I aftermath up each day. It's conscionable thing that I emotion and my stories support maine going. They consciousness similar my crushed to be."