The question about how autobiographical a work of fiction might be is even trickier. Of course we are all a product of our times, but are the books we write really the story of us?
My personal answer is yes and no. The protagonists in both of my books are women, and I am a woman, so that is one check on the "autobiographical" side, if we want to break it down so simply. After that, it starts to get tricky. Lakshmi has secrets, some which are known by a few, some which are find out, and some which only she herself knows. I would hold that everyone has secrets, including me, but I don't have any secrets as enormous as Lakshmi's. I'm also not leading a double life, or becoming entangled by political plots.
So it's hard for me to see an autobiographical aspect in The Bodyguard.
The Talented is slightly different. Adrienne is an outsider, trying to fit into a world not meant for people like her. She is the only female soldier in Kyrog, and when she moves to Kessering she is just as much a minority and outsider there, if not more so.
In The Talented, in Adrienne, perhaps there is something of me. Perhaps, especially when I was younger, I felt that I didn't fit in. That I existed around the edges of people and friendship groups, rather than being an integral part of the group, and struggled to make new friends. In that way, Adrienne might be a reflection of me.
Maybe someone who knows me well and reads my books will see more reflections of me there, but I don't see it. I never set out to write an autobiography, even one cloaked as a work of fiction, and I don't intend to. So perhaps the next time you pick up a book to read, rather than trying to get an insight into the author behind the work, you should look for a reflection of your own life in those pages. What you find might surprise you.