When Raziel Reid sat down to write When Everything Feels like the Movies, he was an unemployed 20-year-old film school grad who wasn't sure where his life was taking him. But Raziel was sure of one thing: He was compelled to do something about a real-life hate crime he had heard about as a teenager — one that Newsweek called "the most prominent gay-bias crime since the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard."

The result, Raziel's first novel, When Everything Feels like the Movies, went on to win a Governor General's Literary Award and was 2015 Canada Reads contender, defended by Elaine "Lainey" Lui.

In his own words, Raziel talks about how this powerful and controversial novel came to be.

"I'll never forget the moment this novel was born. I was in high school, and I was skipping class and watching The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She usually opens her show with a comedic monologue, but on this episode she looked into the camera and talked about the murder of Larry Fobes King, a young gay teen who was shot dead by the classmate who he had asked to be his Valentine. It was a poignant moment. Ellen held it together, but I didn't. She talked about how she and Larry were not second-class citizens. I sat there crying and thought, that could have been me. Larry's murder stayed with me. I started writing about it a couple of years later."

"I started sending the book out to agents and publishers from the very first draft, which was a huge mistake. I sent it out prematurely. I was young and didn't understand that I only had one chance to make an impression. Because I was so young, I thought it was ready when it wasn't. Arsenal Pulp Press read it for the first time in 2012 and liked it, but nothing really developed. So I continued working on it on and off, and resubmitted it. They were generous enough to read it a second time, and they stood by me. They stand by queer voices, and that's what they were drawn to with this story."

"I can write anywhere. When I was a teenager and I had my first job, it was working in a clothing store. I hated it so much, folding clothes for $8 an hour. So I would use the roll of paper the receipts are printed on — I'd rip off some of that paper and hide it in the stack of clothing I was supposed to be folding, and whenever the manager wasn't around, I'd write on the receipt! For When Everything Feels like the Movies, I wrote a lot of notes in Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver. Some people find it creepy but I find it peaceful. I'd sit next to a tree and think about Larry and Jude, and develop the story there, then go back to my computer and write it up."

"I showed one of the really early drafts of the book to my mom. I don't think I'll ever do that in the future. I'm not sure why I sent it to her. I think I wanted to prove to her that I was doing something, because my family always thought I was a little crazy. I didn't take the path they wanted me to take. They offered for me to go to university and take a creative writing or journalism degree, but I knew that wasn't the way for me. I shared the manuscript with her as proof that I wasn't wasting my life. She cried a lot — she felt Jude's pain and maybe had a better understanding of me as a youth through him. Invariably, my truth is between the lines — and sometimes in the lines — of When Everything Feels like the Movies."

"I prayed every time before I started writing this book. I prayed to Larry Fobes King and asked him to guide me as I wrote. It felt like a duty, a responsibility to do something for Larry. Larry didn't have that privilege to go after his dream, and I did. I didn't have the easiest time in school, but no one brought a gun to school and shot me. I wanted to write a tribute to him. And he seemed like such a star. That's how Jude became such a fame-obsessed starlet. Everything I read about Larry — he just seemed so unique and brave, and I think those are real star qualities. My dream for this book was to reach people who needed it the most, even during the very first draft. My favourite books have always been like a friend, or an emblem that you're not alone in this world. I think a lot of young people feel that way. My goal was to give them some hope."