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If you saw the cover of the score for a piece that looked like this, would you want to play it? Or at least hear it? "Pterodactyl's Nest" for Wind Ensemble and Pterodactyls As of this moment, I'm thinking about writing said piece. Personally, I think it's rather intriguing and hilarious at the same time.

I can buy that. So my next question then is how do gimmicky compositions make it out there? I know that there are far more gimmicky than my idea that have gained some notoriety (though they may not be performed very often).

I dunno. Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Schoenberg, a great majority of composers once the 20th century started and tonality dissolved as a primary (and convenient) means of structural articulation and cohesion(though that arguably happened in the late 19th century but w/e.) Perhaps you've heard of some of them? They wrote some cool stuff.

I don't know what the heck I'm doing.

Take a look at Whitacre's "Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine." He wrote most of it in the style of Renaissance music, with tons of Picardy thirds and chain suspensions. But he puts his own twists on things, keeping a lot of more contemporary dissonances, too. As a result, it's arguably his most difficult piece. Check it out: These are the words: I. Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine… Tormented by visions of flight and falling, More wondrous and terrible each than the last, Master Leonardo imagines an engine To carry a man up into the sun… And as he’s dreaming the heavens call him, softly whispering their siren-song: “Leonardo. Leonardo, vieni á volare”. (“Leonardo. Leonardo, come fly”.) L’uomo colle sua congiegniate e grandi ale, facciendo forza contro alla resistente aria. (A man with wings large enough and duly connected might learn to overcome the resistance of the air.) II. Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine… As the candles burn low he paces and writes, Releasing purchased pigeons one by one Into the golden Tuscan sunrise… And as he dreams, again the calling, The very air itself gives voice: “Leonardo. Leonardo, vieni á volare”. (“Leonardo. Leonardo, come fly”.) Vicina all’elemento del fuoco… (Close to the sphere of elemental fire…) Scratching quill on crumpled paper, Rete, canna, filo, carta. (Net, cane, thread, paper.) Images of wing and frame and fabric fastened tightly. …sulla suprema sottile aria. (…in the highest and rarest atmosphere.) III. Master Leonardo Da Vinci Dreams of his Flying Machine… As the midnight watchtower tolls, Over rooftop, street and dome, The triumph of a human being ascending In the dreaming of a mortal man. Leonardo steels himself, takes one last breath, and leaps… “Leonardo, Vieni á Volare! Leonardo, Sognare!” (“Leonardo, come fly! Leonardo, Dream!”) Charles Anthony Silvestri , 1965-present

This.

Because the other three ideas aren't in the realm of avant. Basically - dumb.