Ask the Author: Charlie David
Answered Questions (5)
Charlie David
For my latest book, Bless This Hot Mess, inspiration started in Hollywood, on the set of a miniseries about the life of Saint Peter. My best bud and I were in the series playing biblical fisherman brothers and as we looked around the set we started riffing about how funny it all was and how much of the story was likely to be captured 'right' and how much was given creative license. That was the popcorn kernel of an idea that eventually birthed the romcom musical book Bless This Hot Mess.
Charlie David
If you've followed my work for a while, you might be surprised by my new novel, Bless This Hot Mess.
My stories have usually lived in the worlds of family drama or dark thrillers. Bless This Hot Mess takes a very different path. It's a big, joyful comedy, with the spirit of stage shows like Alter Boyz, Shucked, and Book of Mormon and TV series like Girls5Eva and Schitt's Creek. It's loud, heartfelt, a tad outrageous, and proudly rooted in small-town Canada.
Part of the reason I wanted to write this story comes from my own complicated relationship with faith. I grew up steeped deep in Christianity while also coming to understand myself as a gay man. For a long time those two identities felt like they were in constant conversation, and sometimes conflict. Faith can be beautiful and comforting, but it can also carry expectations that make you feel like you don't belong.
Writing Bless This Hot Mess became an opportunity to explore those tensions with curiosity and humour. I didn't want to write something cynical about faith, and I didn't want to write something preachy either. Instead, I wanted to find the comedy in the collision between the reverent and the irreverent. What happens when big spiritual ideas meet messy human ambition, pop music dreams, and small-town gossip?
That's where Trinity comes in. The heroes of this story—Rebekkah, Japheth, and Ronald are three unlikely dreamers with enormous ambitions and even bigger personalities. They're chasing fame, meaning, and maybe a little divine inspiration, all while navigating whale-sized challenges in a very small Canadian town.
This story might feel a little unexpected, coming from me. But sometimes the most interesting creative journeys start when you step outside the lane people expect you to stay in.
I hope you'll come along for the ride. Give the book a read. Listen to the music—maybe even sing and dance along. And join me for an adventure that's full of heart, faith, mischief, and laughter.
Until you read me again... Go Steelers.
Charlie David
My stories have usually lived in the worlds of family drama or dark thrillers. Bless This Hot Mess takes a very different path. It's a big, joyful comedy, with the spirit of stage shows like Alter Boyz, Shucked, and Book of Mormon and TV series like Girls5Eva and Schitt's Creek. It's loud, heartfelt, a tad outrageous, and proudly rooted in small-town Canada.
Part of the reason I wanted to write this story comes from my own complicated relationship with faith. I grew up steeped deep in Christianity while also coming to understand myself as a gay man. For a long time those two identities felt like they were in constant conversation, and sometimes conflict. Faith can be beautiful and comforting, but it can also carry expectations that make you feel like you don't belong.
Writing Bless This Hot Mess became an opportunity to explore those tensions with curiosity and humour. I didn't want to write something cynical about faith, and I didn't want to write something preachy either. Instead, I wanted to find the comedy in the collision between the reverent and the irreverent. What happens when big spiritual ideas meet messy human ambition, pop music dreams, and small-town gossip?
That's where Trinity comes in. The heroes of this story—Rebekkah, Japheth, and Ronald are three unlikely dreamers with enormous ambitions and even bigger personalities. They're chasing fame, meaning, and maybe a little divine inspiration, all while navigating whale-sized challenges in a very small Canadian town.
This story might feel a little unexpected, coming from me. But sometimes the most interesting creative journeys start when you step outside the lane people expect you to stay in.
I hope you'll come along for the ride. Give the book a read. Listen to the music—maybe even sing and dance along. And join me for an adventure that's full of heart, faith, mischief, and laughter.
Until you read me again... Go Steelers.
Charlie David
Charlie David
Next up, I'll be recording my own book, BLESS THIS HOT MESS in June for an August 11th, 2026 release. I can't wait to share this musical book with you! Be sure to add it to your 'To Read' list.
I've just finished narrating UNHOLY, the sixth book in the Kings series by authors Brooke Blaine and Ella Frank. We recorded in Toronto for Audible and I'm confident you'll fall for this love story as much as I did. It's always such a fun time reading Ella and Brooke's work. ;)
I've just finished narrating UNHOLY, the sixth book in the Kings series by authors Brooke Blaine and Ella Frank. We recorded in Toronto for Audible and I'm confident you'll fall for this love story as much as I did. It's always such a fun time reading Ella and Brooke's work. ;)
Charlie David
The best advice on writing I ever received was by reading Stephen King's 'On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft'. As a new writer, to learn that such a prolific master of a genre and with such a massive following had been rejected dozens and dozens of times by publishers was heartening.
King would pile up the rejection letters on a nail in his office and just keep going. The persistence obviously has paid off.
In terms of boiled down, succinct advice - in the book Stephen King advises that if you want to be a writer then you need to write. One can't wait for the muse to inspire. You need to sit down and write every day, even when you know it's not very good. The muse needs to know you're serious and where to find you. King writes 10 pages a day. That's his work day. He quits once he's done 10 pages. It's no surprise then that he is as prolific as he is. One month can crank out the pages for an average sized novel.
We know that if we want our bodies to be fit, we need to work-out or go to the gym. If we want to be a writer, we need to practice our craft - whether we're being paid to do it or not.
King would pile up the rejection letters on a nail in his office and just keep going. The persistence obviously has paid off.
In terms of boiled down, succinct advice - in the book Stephen King advises that if you want to be a writer then you need to write. One can't wait for the muse to inspire. You need to sit down and write every day, even when you know it's not very good. The muse needs to know you're serious and where to find you. King writes 10 pages a day. That's his work day. He quits once he's done 10 pages. It's no surprise then that he is as prolific as he is. One month can crank out the pages for an average sized novel.
We know that if we want our bodies to be fit, we need to work-out or go to the gym. If we want to be a writer, we need to practice our craft - whether we're being paid to do it or not.
Charlie David
It's 1999... and I just dropped a cassette titled Bless This Hot Mess into my walkman.
Listen on Spotify, iTunes, and Amazon music to the soundtrack to my new book, Bless This Hot Mess. May the beats be with you.
Listen on Spotify, iTunes, and Amazon music to the soundtrack to my new book, Bless This Hot Mess. May the beats be with you.
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