Hey all!
I'm looking for some stories where the protagonist is depressed or sad. It could be from a variety of reasons, military ptsd, family just died, bullied in school, divorced wife etc etc, the list goes on. From there, I want the protagonist to climb out of depression and find his happiness.
The Ghosts of Christmas Past is the best example I can come up with out of the stories I've read. Finding a Place by the same author kind of works, except that he's already gotten over his depression.
Something like Thunder and Lightening could work. I know that he is more angry than sad and depressed, but he goes from feeling bad to finding great happiness.
I think you should get the gist of it.
One important (to me) point I'd like to add, is that I don't want the author to kick the protagonist while he's down. E.g, if the protagonist is a widower, I don't want him to find love with someone, only to have her die too, or leave him, prompting him to fall back to depression.
I want the story to be about going from a bad place to a good place, not going from a bad place to a good place, back to a worse place before finally ending up in a good place, if that makes sense.
As for squicks, I don't like rape, body fluids, swinging, M/M or cheating. I don't mind if it's in the past, like a love interest can have been raped in the past, or the protagonists first wife might have cheated etc, but I want none of that in the present time of the story.
Thanks for reading, and looking forward to any suggestions!