How does one write happy fiction?

I’m sitting in a cabin in Port Austin, Michigan, the very tip of the thumb. I woke up to the sounds of the lake, small waves crashing ashore beneath our back porch. Every few seconds, another crash. I could feel my body sway with the tide as it crashed in and rolled out, crashed and rolled, crashed and rolled.

My girlfriend and I enjoyed a slow morning, drove to a local diner, sipped coffee and chatted over eggs. We tipped the woman - she’d just started serving - smiled and said thank you. And together we headed back to our cabin where we laughed as she beat me in a game of cards.

The WiFi here is terrible, and cell service is worse. It’s the perfect place to read and write - distractions don’t exist, and there’s absolutely nothing going on. And as I sit here, I’m wondering what would be best to write next. I loved writing The Captive last week, and making a little leap into fiction. I’ve been thinking about other bite-sized stories to tell. I thought about a continuation piece, a Tarantino-style nugget that fits into the broader puzzle of how the captive landed where he was. It’s an idea, but I’m not sold on it.

I thought about other stories. A Jewish man, rescued from a concentration camp, battling his confusing thoughts? Or an Investment Banker working late into the night again, seeing a photo of his family, and regretting his pursuit of wealth, examining that emptiness?

As the ideas came crashing in and rolled away, I’m realizing the stories I want to write examine really complicated emotions, and most of those emotions are negative. How does one write happy fiction? How can you explore thorny subjects and resolve conflict in the same breath?

Can I do it?