I think there's logic in where that idea comes from, I really do. But, it's to a point. We are living in a world where nothing is black and white, especially in fiction. No one wants to be depressed for the sake of depression itself. If a story is a tragedy, there needs to either be a theme involved, or the tragic events making it so need to have a strong reason in the plot.

I am going to use my novel Jyree's Pack as an example. Not to be self-righteous, but because I know it better than any other work out there. The basic plot of my story is how my character (a wolf) decides between power, and her family. In the end, she sacrifices herself for her tribe. The theme for the novel is self sacrifice.

And I find that the novel (at the time) ended up being much, much deeper than my other two novels (one of which I stopped working on).

So then I did similar things with my novels The Ice Hero and Fractured Powers.

And to be honest? As the writer of these books, I find it really rewarding to write them. If you are having a bad day and you need to take your aggression somewhere, a death scene, fight scene, or other tragic event can be a stress reliever to write.

And, frankly, if it were true that readers never read tragedies, then what are we doing with The Great Gatsby, even?

My two scents worth,