Hope

"Hope is the air our spirits breathe. Without it, our spirits suffocate."
Pandora of Athens by Barry Denenberg

It is quite tempting to let your writing be filled with a sense of hopelessness. After all, conflict is what drives the story, and it usually involves making things go "out of the frying pan and into the fire." To keep the reader engaged, you must torture your protagonist and their allies with as little mercy as your kind-hearted heart can stand. Worlds without hope are also very popular at the moment, especially dystopian worlds.

So yes, in any good story, the stakes are high. Your character must pay the price for whatever they are trying to attain. But that doesn't mean that the whole world has to be dark and awful. There is too much darkness in the world already without creating an excess of fictional darkness. Writers should create stories that bring light to readers, stories that inspire readers to make hope a reality. Don't underestimate the power of your words!
I challenge you to create stories that take place in worlds of hope. Make your futuristic stories bright with new ideas and inventions--anything that you think would make the world a better place! Put Elves in along with your Orcs (metaphorically speaking) Show the beauty of whatever world you work in, whether it's  1776 or 2076. Look at the works of Jules Verne. You never know if a whim of your imagination today might become reality and change the world! Write the change you wish to see!