As a novelist, I appreciate the healing benefits that come from the telling of a story--even a fictional one. Actually, as a novelist, it is my prerogative to tell made-up stories in any way I choose--the front story and the back, told from beginning to end, without interruption, without objection, without being overruled or dismissed or censored in any way. This is far more than can be said for those who appear before the law, where stories and truth are often trumped by administrative, efficiency-promoting values. A novelist knows the freedom that comes with narration, the liberty that arises out of the unconscious self. It brings expression to the soul, putting words in its mouth and flesh on bones broken by despair.