To what extent does your own life inspire your writing?

[splendidisolation]

Location, aspects of people you've met, your own feelings and experiences?

Very much so to all the above. But then it is my first (and probably only) novel and I think it is quite common for this to happen. Not all of my characters are based on real life though and I have had a bit of fun creating them. I fully intended to write around a theme that means a lot to me, so it was intentional and cathartic that I did so and in fact the story didn't start out as a novel but has turned into one!