Intellectual Dishonesty

I'm not going to claim I'm the most honest writer in the world.

I play mindgames, set up traps, lead readers off cliffs. I borrow from other writers and historians to back up plots I want, no matter what, so there. I do this with my tongue stuck out of the side of my mouth, giggling my head off.

I don't pull crap like this:

1. Claim I re-spelled the word "daemon" and gave it a new definition, when any reader with the least background would know the word had been used to mean the personal spirit since forever. I certainly wouldn't use it in an obvious rewrite of a steampunk Japanese anime (note: I really like steampunk and Japanese anime; but they're genres).

2. Chop out wholesale and drop into the middle of a fairy tale a paper doll of the commandant -- complete with scared servant and tortured spirit -- from Schindler's List, and then try to make out I'm doing this great original spiritual thing. There's stealing with genius -- and then there's just cut-and-paste.