Empathy is critical to the creation of art. Donald E. Westlake was not a thief, nor was he an unrepentant killer, but he wrote about the kinds of people who work in these disreputable fields with deliciously savage aplomb. Patrick O'Brien completed 20 novels about the high seas adventures of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin during the Napoleonic Wars, but he apparently knew little about the practical aspects of sailing. And there is no documented evidence that Mary Shelley ever brought a dead body back to life.

It gets tricky, however, when you attempt to imagine the experience of being persecuted for your appearance or beliefs. To paraphrase Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird," you never know a person until you stand in their shoes and walk around for a while, but empathy only gets y

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