"Nick and Charlie were characters in the very first young adult novel I wrote, Solitaire. I wrote that when I was at school and it was published in 2014," Alice said in an interview with PinkNews.

"That book is about Charlie’s older sister Tori, so Nick and Charlie are kind of supporting characters. But I fell in love with them as I was writing that story, and I knew they had a bigger story than what we see in Solitaire, so I wanted to tell their story somehow."

And because Alice is a novelist by nature — penning other YA books like Radio Silence, I Was Born for This, and Loveless — she initially tried to tell Nick and Charlie's story via novel format. It didn't work out.

She said, "For a really long time I tried to plan out their story as a novel because that’s what I knew how to do, but I just couldn’t get it to work, and I eventually realized that Nick and Charlie’s story was more episodic so it suited a serialized format like a webcomic so much better."

Overall, according to Alice, Heartstopper is about “magic moments in relationships.”

“The title of the story is Heartstopper — it’s about moments that make your heart stop,” she said. Go figure!

Season 1 of Heartstopper is currently streaming on Netflix.