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NORTH ATTLEBORO - It was an obsession with video games that ultimately led local author Jeff Kinney down the path to creating his best-selling children's book, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid."

The Plainville author's book - a novel in cartoons - has spent eight weeks on the New York Times Children's Best-Seller list and is steadily gaining a following across the country.

Among the fans are fifth-graders at the Martin School, who were treated to a visit by Kinney, where he spoke about the inspiration for his book.

"I wanted to be a newspaper strip cartoonist - I had a strip in my college newspaper at the University of Maryland," Kinney said. "I thought I was on my way to becoming a cartoonist, and then I hit the cold hard facts of rejection letters. I found myself spending a lot of time sitting around playing video games. So, I started a journal to shame myself into doing something. It didn't work - it basically became a log of my video game playing."

But Kinney's journal also became a spot for cartoon doodles - and Kinney realized that a journal mixed with cartoons would be a great format for telling stories. And so, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" was born. The "novel in cartoons" allows readers to peek into the journal of Greg Heffley, a student who thinks middle school "is the worst idea ever invented." Many of the funny stories in the book are based upon incidents from Kinney's own childhood - or at least the childhood of friends and family.

"A lot of my stories come from real life experiences," Kinney said. "Yes, I was kind of a wimpy kid. Everybody has lots of funny things that happen to them and you should write it down. Even if you don't write a book, you'll have those memories."

For example, in the book, Greg's brother Rodrick plays a dirty trick by waking Greg in the middle of the night to tell him he slept through all of summer vacation. Greg gets up and dresses for school and is in the middle of a bowl of Cheerios, when his father comes down to yell at him for being out of bed at 3 a.m.

Kinney said that story is based upon his own life - and his own brother successfully pulled that prank on him.

The novel grew out of posts on a Web site, where Kinney first started writing about Greg Heffley. As popularity grew, a publisher contacted him about putting Greg Heffley's world in hard bound.

"Who knew I would write something in my basement in Plainville, Mass., and someone in Greece can read it. The world is so connected today - people from all over the world were reading it as it was written," he said.

Even after the book deal, Kinney never expected to be on the New York Times Best Seller list.

"It was an absolute shock," he said. "I honestly thought it was a clerical error at first."

Kinney is already in the midst of a five-book series and has been approached about turning "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" into a syndicated cartoon, as well.

To check out the online version of Kinney's book, visit www.funbrain.com. AMY DeMELIA can be reached at 508-236-0334 or at ademelia@thesunchronicle.com.