Elizabeth C Lodge | The Four Little Fairies and Their Friends

We are honoured to work with as many authors as we do at Pegasus Publishers – each with their own stories to tell. Their worlds are singular, their characters are relatable, and their creativity truly knows no bounds.

This is Author Life, a feature on the Pegasus Blog, that opens the door to each of our author’s creative process and previous literary experience, offering you – the reader – an opportunity to learn a little about the mind behind the novel.

Meet Elizabeth C Lodge, author of the children’s fantasy The Four Little Fairies and Their Friends.

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Could you tell us three interesting facts about yourself?

I consider myself to be a private person, and enjoy time spent with my family.

I do feel I can be quite creative, when it comes to my writing, I feel this brand-new hobby, which I started in 2022, has stirred my imagination.

Other than my relatively new hobby, I enjoy gardening, flower arrangements, interior design, cooking, baking and walking with my husband and our little dog Pixie.

In your own life, what influences and inspires you to write?

I know I enjoyed reading as a very young child and I would love my stories to capture children’s imagination, just like stories I read as a young child did to me. Hopefully, if I can give joy to children and educate them in anyway, whether by reading or purely by firing up their imagination, then that is inspiration enough for me.

Which book or author has had the biggest impact on you, and why?

As a young child growing up in the Sixties, I loved Enid Blyton. Who didn’t? She was an incredible storyteller for all children and her stories are still as popular today.

Can you tell me about the book?

This book is made up of eight individual stories: a delightful mixture of mystical, mysteries, magic and mayhem that all feature the same loveable characters, the four little fairies, and their friends – hence the title of the book!

These friends include other folklore friends: a much loved funny and caring seagull, a loving mermaid, a mystical budgie and many, many more. Thrown into the mix, there are baddie pirates, a wicked witch, and even a ghost.

What were your first experiences with writing?

My first experience was actually the very first story in this book!

Now called “When Three Became Four”, this little story was simply called “The Four Little Fairies” when I wrote it for my niece, who was three years old at the time. This short story was initially handwritten, before I typed it up on an old typewriter almost thirty years ago. My niece loved fairies at the time!

In 2021, on my 60th birthday, my Niece retyped the story and sent it off to a printing company to have it printed and bound for me in a little hard back cover. I was thrilled to see the little story I had written all those years ago. Although, I had never forgotten it, it was wonderful to pick it up and read it again.

In 2022, I decided to write another story to follow on, which I called “The Prickles in a Pickle”, and that was it… I have never stopped writing since. I have literally been away with the fairies.

I love my new hobby and to date I have written lots more - just finishing my eighteenth story.

In your opinion, what are the key ingredients for a good story or novel?

I know I should say that a good story or novel is a book you cannot put down. However, I think a good book or novel can be quite the opposite.

Although you want to pick the book up, you resist and put it back down again, simply because you don’t want the book to end. You are enjoying it that much, you want to savour every single page and although you can’t wait to know what happens, you don’t want to get to the very last page and finish reading it.

How long should an author spend on their craft each day?

An author should spend as long as they want, whether its 10 minutes or several hours. Time spent writing should be an enjoyment, not something you force yourself to do.

What was the most challenging part of writing this book, and what did you learn from writing it?

The most challenging part was the eight illustrations within the book, or rather not the eight illustrations. I ultimately decided not to have any. Some may think this was a mistake, not having illustrations in a children’s book, but, in the end, I was happy with my decision.

I refer again to imagination. When reading a book, if you are enjoying it, you become part of that story. It is a play… a performance playing out just for you… and imagination is a wonderful thing because the characters and surroundings are just as you picture them - and you alone.

They are how you want them to be and that is the most important thing about reading: the gift of imagination.

What common pitfalls should aspiring writers avoid? + What writing advice would you offer to your younger self?

I really don’t feel as though I can answer these questions. This relatively new hobby of mine is all so new to me. I don’t feel experienced enough to offer any advice.

The Four Little Fairies and Their Friends is available now in paperback.