Authors shy away from the accusation that any first novel is autobiographical. It sounds as though all you really needed was therapy. I chose a time (Viking age of expansion, roughly) and place (somewhere near the Lofoten Islands), added a dash of dramatic licence and fantasy elements (of which, much more later) and made Bera the kind of girl I wish I'd ever been. And what happens? My 20 year-old godson read the first draft and said "I can see you all through this book." What??
It's because he knows me so well. We've talked about my troubled childhood as an only child (perfect for a writer) and all subsequent adventures, so he's able to see how the alchemy of the craft makes dull metal into gold. Or so we hope.