I have a colleague who writes only autobiographical fiction. His interest is mostly psychological, and he believes that moving away from his own experience diffuses his imaginative energy. It’s true that imagination is a limited resource. Some are gifted with a bounteous supply (as ruinous sometimes as being born into wealth); others need to draw upon their reserves more judiciously.
The circumstances of our lives can also dictate how far from our lived experience we venture. Miriam Toews, inspired by horrific events in a Bolivian Mennonite colony, began Women Talking just before her sister committed suicide. In her grief, she wrote the more directly autobiographical novel, All My Puny Sorrows, before returning to Women Talking.