Should I try writing fiction?

Jane Friedman, in a blog called Writer Unboxed, wrote a post titled “Audience Development: Critical to Every Writer’s Future.” Yes, I have seen some bloggers who published their books after gaining their readers. There are also bloggers who became writers or columnist after gaining the trust from the media. Readers are important for writers. Without the existence of readers, it would just like a music performance without the audience.

The same writer in another blog said that we will start thinking of opportunities we didn't think of before. Perhaps this is the opportunity that is coming unpredictable to me. I never think that I can write an interesting fiction story. I wrote opinions, or things around arts and cultures, but I won't think to try fiction. Writing literary work seems too difficult for my blunt imagination. Yet, one of my blog readers said that he thought I could be a good novelist. Am I? I thought he was just sending me nice words. Yet, my meeting with Claudine Salmon, a French researcher who was awarded the Nabil Award for her contribution to the nation building in Indonesia, made me rethink about that possibility. I remember that I've got a book titled "Panggung Sejarah". In that book there is a section written by Claudine Salmon titled "Fiksi ethnografis dalam kesusasteraan Melayu Peranakan" (Ethnographic fiction in Malay peranakan literature). The writers within the research of Claudine Salmon were introducing the culture of indigenous people such as in Tengganan and Tengger. Just a few days before meeting Ibu Claudine, I read in Kompas about "sastra bibliopolis" (I found it online in a blog named Cabik Lunik, it is in Bahasa Indonesia), and it made me curious on the work of Michael Pearson. The writer in Kompas said that Pearson was more than just a reader. He came to the places that were written by American authors, and ventured into a new experience with his readers.

I loved reading books that were linked to history, places, and psychology. I also loved reading autobiography. If I can't be a researcher in my professional life, then why don't I try to make my own research for my own book? This idea is just jumping out when I read Jane Friedman's blog post. Should I take it as an opportunity which was never been thought before? I'm not sure yet (I still think that my writing lack the smoothness of a novel's language as I'm still writing the way I made my scientific report)! Do you have any suggestion?

P.S. I can't find the name Michael Pearson in the book "Outline of American Literature (Revised Edition)". There is a Michael Pearson in the English Wikipedia whose also an author but his biography doesn't look like a seriously written biography. May be I should wait to read the book myself before giving any link or comment about this author.