I agree they aren't very creative but great mimics. I found a black book left at my apt. by an MNPD/psychopathic man, I was dating. He wrote down quotes from books, movies that he felt worked on women. He was insincere but sure mimicked a genuine human being. Everything about him was fake.
He claims he never dreamed but would watch movies about men who dreamt and write down their dreams so to not appear odd. He genuinely didn't seem to understand humans and their emotions and took field notes on how to manipulate people into getting what he wanted.
He said, "when I was little I had no sense of self so I wrote down my favorite movie characters and copied them." He thought this was normal behavior to not have a sense of self or a core identity. He thought everyone put on masks every day a new and different one for each person.
He would study his target for up to a year in advance having multiple victims or targets lined up in case another one didn't work out.
Here I thought he wrote these romantic poems only to find them in his Black Book from other books/films.
He stalked me, studied me for two years in advance knew my work, college class schedules, everything even befriended friends to quiz them on my favorite color, music/art, food etc...so when we spoke I thought wow, we have so much in common it was all a mask, a game, a fake identity. When the mask finally came off it was the exact opposite and frightening. When he knew I wasn't buying his bs anymore was the dangerous moment. He feared I'd expose him to others.