Three years after trying to get syndicated and years after the first draft was sketched out, a wimpy kid finally got his time in the spotlight. That light is still shining, too.
Jeff Kinney, author of the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series, spoke to Guilderland elementary school students on Thursday, Nov. 13, with students bused in and gathering at the new gym in the High School. Kinney provided insight into how he develops each “Wimpy Kid” story, while looking to inspire students to follow their passions even if they face several hurdles along the way.
“I didn’t get my dream of becoming a newspaper cartoonist, but I got something really different,” Kinney said. “Now, I’m a children’s author, which is actually a lot better for me.”
As a children’s book author, Kinney said he has gotten to do “all sorts of crazy things,” such as meeting celebrities, athletes and three United States presidents, along with traveling the world.
“The Obamas actually have the same dog that we have, a Portuguese water dog, so that actually gave us something to talk about,” he said. “The coolest thing I got to do was to create a giant helium balloon for the Macy’s day parade in New York City.”
After going through all the ideas laid out in his original sketch book, Kinney starts fresh for each book in January to release a new book annually. He said around 350 ideas, or jokes, are needed for each book.
He showed how the cover of his book went through several different versions, but he ultimately settled on his second idea. Each book also has a unique color, which easily distinguishes it from the others.
“On the cover of every ‘Wimpy Kid’ book, Greg looks unhappy, and it’s usually because of the choices that he made,” he said. “This book I pretty much knew was going to be orange, because we are running out of color ideas. … I worked for a long time getting the exact right shade of orange.”
Kinney’s latest book, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul,” is his ninth in the series. The book follows the Heffley family preparing to go on a road trip and the inevtiable discourse that follows. Each book is made to look like the journal of the main character, Greg.
After completing the manuscript, which Kinney said he usually thinks is “perfect,” the editor will send it back with several markups pointing out things that should be corrected or revised.
“All of those blue and green notes are notes from my editor, and they are very similar to the note from a teacher that tells you you’ve done something wrong on a test or an essay,” said Kinney. “My book is actually covered in markups, so everything that I thought was perfect comes back with all sorts of changes that need to be made. So I have to work on that for a few more weeks.”
All of the drawings are done electronically, said Kinney. He admitted he is not good with the tools of a “normal cartoonist.” He then showed how he goes from his rough sketches to “inking” images, or creating the final version.
At the end of the talk, Kinney took questions from the hundreds of students. One student suggested he should make a television show. Kinney said he is working on creating to animated television specials for “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.”
Kinney also said he “doesn’t have an end number” for how many books he will make for the series. Over the years, it has changed, but he’s settled on letting the series run for as long as he still has ideas to fill the pages.
