Cogito ergo cog

I have a theory. It is also a code I live by. By which I mean a justification for my extraordinarily offensive tendencies towards non-conformity. I'm such a bastard. Anyway, For the last ten years or so, my mantra has been "There can be no greatness without audacity." I dunno. Maybe I heard it somewhere. I won't bother claiming to have invented it. But it's a good code to live by. It's my code.

That said, as a reader, nothing pisses me off more than an aspiring author who is audacious, but not any good. When a first time novelist writes in and calls their book a guaranteed bestseller and thinks it'd make a great movie, that makes me cautious. When they compare themselves to literary masterminds or refer to themselves as the next big thing, it makes me nauseous.

There's a difference between being audacious and a grandstanding, delusional jerk wad. Do me a favor and meditate on the difference before you send a query to my agency, m'kay? That said, telling me you're inspired by some bestselling author, or that your work has shades of some well known book is perfectly fine. Indeed, I tend to feel a lot more sympathy for people who know their shit and say things like "I could never hope to rival so and so, but I think I might have a book they'd be proud to have authored." You never know. You just might be greater than your hero. But don't act like it until you've accomplished something.

And now I'm a little verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves. Your topic is audacity vs. being pretentious.