The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
‘The title, Wimpy Kid, was a little audacious’
Jeff Kinney, creator of the Wimpy Kid series, on writing pangs, responsibility towards his readers and how a computer changed his personal story
A few years ago, in an interview you’d said that the Wimpy Kid series was something you did on the side, like a hobby. Does that hold true today?
The balance has changed. Most of my life is focussed around Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but I still have a foot in Poptropica (an online platform where children can read, play games and compete in competitions. It was founded by Kinney in 2007). The focus goes back and forth during the course of the year. It is a privilege to write material that gets to millions of kids. It’s gratifying to know that the work you are doing is reaching an audience.
Your father introduced you to comics at a young age. Do you remember the first one you read?
I was probably seven or eight. My father had a big stack of comics on his nightstand, mostly by Carl Barks of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge. Once I discovered those comics, I dismissed everything else and only wanted to read the ones by Barks. They’re rereleasing all his work in hardcover and I’m collecting every one of them, not only for myself but for my kids as well.
I had trouble paying attention in class so I would doodle. At the time, that activity would be seen as not paying attention. There is an awareness now that kids who do this, who have Attention Deficit Disorder, are able to pay attention because they’re drawing. Even today, I have to explain to people that I am listening to them but I also have to doodle.
Your mother was an educator and you’ve said that her computer got you into programming. How so?
Nobody had a personal computer at the time and she had an Apple IIE. We were a middle-class family so it was quite an extravagance. That set the course of my life because I learned to program and ultimately, become a computer programmer. If we didn’t have that computer in those formative years, I don’t know what I would have done in my life.
One of the most important characters in the series is Greg’s mother, Susan Heffley. Is she based on your mother or your wife?
It’s all a funhouse mirror version of my mother and the rest of my family. I’m also taking components of my wife’s personality and the things she does — and every other mother that I hear about. The spirit of the books is fun so I can’t think of any instance when they were offended.
What was it like for you to be the middle child in your family, like Greg, the Wimpy Kid?
I had two older siblings that I didn’t get along well with at the time. My younger brother was the apple of everybody’s eye — so you try to find a way to stand out or separate yourself. We think of ourselves as unique but, I think, the birth order really matters (laughs). Being the middle child helped me, it made me feel invisible in a way. You’re more of an observer than a participant.
Greg is not particularly likeable but he’s relatable. How do you go about creating that balance?
I think Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, said ‘Children are cruel’. The children in his books could be more cruel than mine. I’m raising kids right now and I see the way kids are stigmatised and I’m reminding them constantly to lift up the kids who need lifting up.
When you’re growing up, you’re trying to make sure that you’re above somebody else, and say, ‘at least I’m not that guy’. In some ways, Greg is that other guy. The title, Wimpy Kid, was a little audacious because I thought a kid wouldn’t want to pick up the book because of the title. For a long time online, I called it Greg’s Journal, because I was too scared to put ‘Wimpy Kid’ on it. Some people in my publishing house felt uncomfortable with that, too, and a few on the board wanted Greg to be smiling. That was missing the point. He has to look unhappy. You pick up the book because you want to read about somebody who is doing worse than you.
You have released your 11th title, Double Down, last month. What has been the most difficult aspect of writing the series?
It’s very hard for me to write a single book. The creativity does not flow for me the way it does for other authors and illustrators. It takes me about nine months to write a book but I have to discipline and torture myself into coming up with these jokes. I’m always filled with doubt and self-loathing. Even if my book is terrible, kids are going to read it anyway. So, I feel a real responsibility to my readership.