Supernatural Fiction is what you call fictional stories about the supernatural. That is, it's what you call them when you're not calling them Fantasy.
While fantasy is a very broad genre, covering all manner of stories about magic, the supernatural, and the otherworldly, for most people the words "fantasy fiction" are associated first and foremost with High Fantasy: epic action/adventure stories set in an imaginary world full of flying dragons, sword-wielding heroes, fireball-slinging wizards, and all that jazz. Because of this, some stories that contain one or more elements of fantasy won't be called fantasy; they'll be called supernatural fiction, to indicate that, yes, they contain fantastical elements, but aren't what people usually think of when they hear the word "fantasy" (not-so-coincidentally, this can also help a story avoid the Sci Fi Ghetto).
Common reasons a story might be called supernatural fiction (or possibly "paranormal fiction") are:
- The setting. Supernatural fiction is almost invariably set in the real world, while stories set in Constructed Worlds are pretty much always called fantasy (though plenty of stories set in the real world are called fantasy too).
- The genre. While the supernatural fiction label is often applied to tales of mystery, suspense, romance, or personal drama, it's rarely applied to adventure stories; those are usually called fantasy. Meanwhile, Horror stories with supernatural elements are mostly still just called horror stories.
- The point of view. Supernatural fiction is often told from the Point of View of ordinary people who aren't aware of the supernatural until they encounter it during the story. If the point of view characters have been embroiled in the supernatural since before the story began, it's more likely to be called fantasy.
- The prevalence of the supernatural. In supernatural fiction, there may be only one or two supernatural elements at play, rather than whole communities of supernatural beings as is common in High and Urban Fantasy.
- The form of the supernatural. Both dragons and ghosts are supernatural beings, but stories about dragons are normally called fantasy, while stories about ghosts are normally called supernatural fiction (when they're not called Horror). This may be because very few people believe that dragons are real, but there are a great many people who believe that ghosts are real. In this regard, supernatural fiction can be seen as a counterpart to supernatural non-fiction. There are many non-fiction books containing supposedly true accounts of haunted houses, demonic possessions, and occult rituals, and supernatural fiction often draws inspiration from these stories, portraying their supernatural content in a way that emulates the tone, if not the details, of what real people have claimed to have experienced. (If the author claims the supernatural elements of their story actually exist, then you've entered the murky territory separating Supernatural Fiction from religious fiction.) Meanwhile, if a story is called fantasy, it's more likely to craft its supernatural elements from pure imagination, with only a token resemblance to real life supernatural beliefs. Generally speaking, a witch giving someone boils by calling on pagan gods and performing an arcane ritual is likely to be supernatural fiction; a witch turning someone into a mouse by wiggling their nose is likely to be fantasy.
See also Gothic Horror, which Supernatural Fiction is often inspired by, Paranormal Romance, a popular Sub-Genre, and Magical Realism, another kind of fantasy-that's-not-called-fantasy.
Examples:
- 14 (Peter Clines)
- Along The Winding Road
- Ash (2012)
- The Bane Chronicles
- Bailey School Kids
- Bat Pat
- Charlie Parker Series
- Chronicles of Nick
- Creed (1990)
- Dance Of The Butterfly
- The Dark
- The Dark Artifices
- Darker Than You Think
- Daughters of the Moon
- The Defiler
- Dennis Wheatley
- The Devil Rides Out
- Dove Keeper
- The Eldest Curses
- Evernight
- Fate/Zero
- Freya
- Fluke
- Gemma Doyle
- The Ghosts of Sleath
- Ghosts of the Shadow Market
- Gravity Falls: Dipper and Mabel and the Curse of the Time Pirates' Treasure!
- Gravity Falls: Journal 3
- The Great God Pan
- Green Hills
- The Hearts We Sold
- Her Fearful Symmetry
- Hilda
- Hollow Places
- The Infernal Devices
- Invisible Werewolf Dracula Meets Vampire Mummy Frankenstein
- I Sit Behind The Eyes
- The Kindness of Devils
- Girls on Film
- Nights In Lonesome Arkham
- Under The Cold Moon
- A Conspiracy of Serpents
- Give Us Forever
- Portent
- Reign in Hell
- Over High Seas
- Diamond & the Daylight
- A Matter of Pride
- The Fall (2018)
- None Too Holy
- Heart of Greed
- The Dreams of Lonely Stars
- In the Castle of the Night
- Sangue Serenissima
- Empty Memories and Cold Graves
- The Wolves of War
- The Unquiet Grave
- Children of Valentine
- And to All a Good Night
- The Kiss of Wrath
- Only A Lonely Heart
- Loves Lost And Found
- A Touch of Melancholy
- Le Chevalier
- The Final Girl
- Wonderland
- Stories Never Told
- The Savage and the Sacred
- The Little Stranger
- Moon (1985)
- The Mortal Instruments
- The Magic Cottage
- My Happy Marriage
- Necromancy Cottage, Or, The Black Art Of Gnawing On Bones
- The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchison Booth
- The Neverkind Saga
- Night World
- Others
- Once
- Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter
- The Red Necklace
- The Secret of Crickley Hall
- Sepulchre
- The Shadowspawn
- Shifting Elements
- The Spear
- The Strangely Beautiful Series
- Tales of Elethiya
- Tales from Cherryshrub, Mississippi
- Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy
- Tommy Taffy
- The Turn of the Screw
- The Twilight Saga
- Under a Freezing Moon
- Unhallowed
- The United States of Monsters
- Unique
- The Witches of Thistle Grove
- Wylding Hall
- American Gothic (1995)
- Cheo Yong
- Dark Shadows
- Ghost Story
- The Irregulars
- Lovecraft Country
- Mayfair Witches
- My Dead Ex
- Outer Range
- Nancy Drew (2019)
- Priest (2018)
- Shadowhunters
- Sleepy Hollow
- Strange
- Stranger Things
- Supernatural
- True Blood
- The Twilight Zone (1959) (sometimes)
- Witchblade
- The X-Files (when it wasn't using Science Fiction, anyway)
- Wynonna Earp
- Archie's Weird Mysteries
- Beetlejuice
- Bunnicula
- Camp Lakebottom
- Courage the Cowardly Dog
- Danny Phantom
- The Ghostand Molly Mc Gee
- Gravity Falls
- The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
- Hilda
- The Last Kids on Earth
- Lastman
- The Life and Times of Juniper Lee
- Martin Mystery
- Moville Mysteries
- Phantom Investigators
- Victor and Valentino