Fishing for Advice, a Novel Approach

So another person has told me how much they enjoy my writing. It makes me wonder, though. Could I ever make a real go at being an author? I seem to be creative in bursts. Sometimes, ideas and words come to me fully formed, and I simply need to write them down. Other times, I struggle to even get a paragraph in. I'd love to write a full book, maybe even a start a new career. I'd like to think it's something I would enjoy more than what I'm doing now.

Many of my characters are fully developed, some could use more work. Unfortunately, they also depend on worlds not of my creation, and that I am unlikely to be able to write about professionally. So I have to figure out whether to write a story set in, say Azeroth, and then adapt it away from the fan fiction that it is. (Don't knock that, some authors are making bundles writing adapted fanfics.) Or do I try to adapt it as I go; even though in my head, I'm still picturing Tyria, or the factions of The Secret World? And how much . . . um, smut  . . . do I put in it? I've been known to write some juicy stuff, not that you'll ever see it here. That opens some doors and closes others. Then again, every audience you write for has its limits, no matter the genre.

I haven't done much with my project from NaNoWriMo; never purchased the full version of Scrivener; have only opened it once or twice since November. Would I open it and work on stuff more if I'd made the investment? Or would I not use it enough to warrant the investment?

Who knows, I could be the next Joanne Rowling—one can dream, no?—or at least the next (insert some author who makes a middle class living here). But I have to get something "on paper" first.

Any authors out there—struggling or successful—with any advice?