Man vs. the Supernatural Story Conflict:

When what haunts us isn’t just metaphor but real.

In The La Piscina Inn, a haunted pool in America’s oldest city becomes a portal to the past. It also leads to a spiritual inheritance. Carly, a female pool technician, never asked for this.

This is the essence of Man vs. the Supernatural.

Man vs. Supernatural isn’t merely a ghost story or fantasy. It’s a tale where the natural world meets the spiritual realm. The protagonist must confront what can’t be explained by logic or science.

What is Man vs. the Supernatural?

This conflict pits the protagonist against entities that defy natural laws… ghosts, monsters, gods, demons, curses, or cosmic forces.

These supernatural antagonists often reflect inner wounds, historical trauma, or suppressed truths, manifested.

The protagonist will either survive, understand, or transform through the otherworldly.

Unlike Man vs. Fate/God, which deals with abstract destiny or divine forces, Man vs. the Supernatural gives the unknown a more tangible (often terrifying) face.

Use this conflict when:

• You want to explore grief, legacy, or trauma in a symbolic but visceral way.
• You’re writing in genres like horror, magical realism, fantasy, or mythic fiction.
• The character must face something unexplainable that challenges their worldview.
• The supernatural force isn’t always evil; it may be a teacher, a mirror, or a revealer of truth.

Modern Examples:

The La Piscina Inn by M.C. Convery:  Carly, a pool tech, confronts haunting ties to her ancestry through a mysterious pool and the sacrificial love of a monk.

The Sixth Sense: A boy sees ghosts and must learn to listen to them, not fear them.

Coraline: A young girl enters a parallel world with an “Other Mother” who offers everything she desires… for a price.

The Others: A woman protects her children in a house she believes is haunted—until the twist reveals who the real ghosts are.

Emotional Focus:

This conflict taps into fear, awe, wonder, dread, denial, and eventually acceptance or transformation. Readers feel unease and tension, not just from the external haunting, but from the internal unraveling of the protagonist’s belief system.

Key Questions to Ask When Writing:

• What truth does the supernatural force represent?
• Is the character afraid because the force is dangerous, or because it demands change?
• Is the “ghost” literal or symbolic? (It can be both.)
• Does the supernatural source want something? Forgiveness? Recognition? Healing?
• How does the character’s understanding of reality shift by the end?

Why It Matters:

Man vs. the Supernatural stories linger.

They echo myths, religions, and personal nightmares.

They help us externalize the invisible forces that shape us… loss, ancestry, intuition, belief, unresolved trauma. And in doing so, they make space for deeper emotional truths.

Like Carly in The La Piscina Inn, the protagonist may be facing a haunting that isn’t trying to destroy her, but maybe just awaken her.

Happy Writing!

~ M.C. Convery