Your Paradigm

I've been reading a novel lately that's set in the post-apocalyptic future and everyone is fighting to-the-death for food. I'm approaching the climax of the book; it's going to be a final epic battle, and frankly, I don't think a whole lot of people are going to survive. :( To be honest, this isn't totally to my taste. Interestingly, I've met this author and he's a very nice guy, happily married, and financially secure.

My critique partners write a variety of different things but IMHO each individual author does tend towards writing dark (everybody dies) or light (everybody laughs) books in general. I definitely fall on the light end of the spectrum. That's not to say people never die in my books but when they do it's rare and the survivors feel bad about it and mourn the dead.

Which leads me to my point, writing shows and tells so much about the author, whether we intend it to or not. I think writing indirectly illuminates the author's paradigm. I could be totally wrong about this, but I think people write books that are the opposite of their worldview. The author in my critique group that writes the gloomiest, doomiest novels is happily married, well-off, with a great husband and kids. The author in my critique group that writes the lightest novels (okay, it's me) tends to agree with the teachings of Thomas Hobbes: "..life in the state of nature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." When I read and write I want to laugh. I want to be uplifted. I want to experience a better place, a world where we can all live up to our potential. I want to imagine...

How about you? Do you write your paradigm or the opposite of your paradigm?