Narrative Essay Topics and Ideas for Successful Essay Writing

December 09, 2024
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Finding good narrative essay topics which your teachers are likely to approve of is difficult. Narrative essays are all about telling a story from your perspective. Whether you want to write personal narrative topics inspired by your experiences or about categories such as art or culture, ideas for writing are everywhere.

One could go about writing narrative essays in several ways, from getting in touch with the best essay writers to looking for topics online. How can you choose the right narrative essay topics for your assignment, which will, in turn, inspire you to write good papers?

5 Tips for Choosing a Great Narrative Essay Topic

To write a fun and interesting narrative essay, one needs to choose the best topic possible for a paper. To do that, you will need to ideate and come up with a story worth telling. Narrative essays may be autobiographical, but they can also be descriptive and feature stories about scenarios unrelated to you personally.

Brainstorm Narrative Essay Topics for College Students

The best way to start thinking about your academic assignment is to write a paragraph about something you are passionate about. Create a list of keywords from the top categories you are passionate about and start thinking about how to create a narrative essay topic. A topic for a narrative essay might come seemingly out of the blue, so give yourself some time to brainstorm ideas.

Become a Storyteller

You must understand that narrative essays are not research papers or case studies – they are exercises in storytelling. Use a custom research paper writing service if you get stuck trying to maintain your writing style or need help with proofreading. Understand that you are not writing a strict academic assignment such as a research paper or an analytical essay.

Tackling Personal Narrative Ideas

If you are writing about a personal narrative in your narrative essay, consult your professor before doing so. Some personal narrative essay ideas are controversial or unfit for the task you were given. Your teacher might have valuable feedback or edits they’d like to make to your ideas before you go into the writing stage.

Outline your Essay Before Writing

Planning out your narrative essay with a paragraph or two before you start writing is a good way to ensure it turns out well. There are samples of narrative essays which you could consult if you get stuck in the planning phase. Otherwise, break down your narrative essay into an introduction, a body, and a conclusion, and start filling in the blanks.

Review your Narrative Essay Before Handing It In

One needs to ensure that your narrative ideas are interesting enough for the reader to enjoy and that it is free of proofreading or stylistic issues. Distance yourself from your narrative essay and look at it objectively as an example of someone else’s writing – what do you see? If you arrive at thoughts such as “I’d like help from someone to write my dissertation for me”, you can find such help online. Whether you write your narrative essay as a high school student or a Ph.D. candidate, a professional writer could always help you.

List of Narrative Essay Topics for You to Choose From

Here are some thought-provoking ideas to consider as you choose the ideal topic for your narrative essay:

  1. What has been your best experience so far as a college student?
  2. Write about a time when you were really frightened.
  3. Describe meeting your current boyfriend or girlfriend.
  4. Has anybody thrown you a surprise party? What was that like?
  5. Describe your favorite place
  6. What did you do on your last road trip?
  7. Plan the ideal week-long vacation
  8. What was the last thing you did with your best friend
  9. When was the last time that you were completely unsure of how to handle a problem?
  10. What was the best piece of advice you ever received? How did you use it?
  11. Have you ever travelled to a foreign country?
  12. Have you ever climbed a mountain, gone backpacking, or experienced some other travel adventure?

Personal

Personal narrative essay topics are meant to help whoever reads your thoughts feel like they have gone through this experience with you. Telling a story needs to feel personal and share a piece of your mind with the reader.

  1. Facing and Overcoming the Biggest of Challenges
  2. Coping When You First Experience Failure
  3. Sharing an Experience That Taught You to Appreciate Life More
  4. How Helping Others Impacts A Person’s Everyday Life
  5. How Facing What Scared You Helped Change You
  6. The Process of Learning Something New
  7. The First Time You Cooked A Meal by Yourself
  8. The Most Frightening Experienced You Have Faced
  9. Which Is Your Worst Childhood Memory?
  10. How to Find Balance Between Your Personal and Professional Life

Technology and Social Media

The internet has gained a very important part in our day-to-day lives within the past few years. There are so many ways to use technology and social media, and there are many great narrative essays topics to discuss in this field.

  1. How Social Media Can Affect Our Daily Life
  2. Important Things People Accomplished Through Social Media
  3. How to Prepare for Your First Online Interview as A College Student
  4. How Technological Advances Help Make Our Everyday Life Easier
  5. The Impact of Cyberbullying Through Social Media for Today’s Youth
  6. The Rise and Importance of Cryptocurrency Through the Years
  7. How Technology and Social Media Helped You Learn Something New
  8. How to Choose A Niche for Your Social Media Accounts
  9. How Technology Helps Students Through Their College Years
  10. Social Media and Promotion of Unrealistic Beauty Standards

For College Students

Your college years are some of the most fun and transformative ones of your lives. Big and smaller actions such as choosing the ideal field and managing your expenses will truly impact your future.

  1. How to Achieve Personal and Professional Growth as A College Student
  2. A Person You Admire from Your Everyday Life
  3. The Biggest Challenge You Had to Overcome as A College Student
  4. How the Right Profession Can Turn You Into A Happy Person
  5. Learning How to Deal with Difficult Professors
  6. Managing Time and Working Under Pressure
  7. Why Saving Money in College Is Important for Your Future
  8. Your First Day of College
  9. Which Is Your Favorite Memory from Your College Years?
  10. Transitioning from High School to College

Cultural

Ideas for narrative essays based around cultural topics might range from traveling experiences to learning about cultures. You could write these narrative essays if you experienced them first-hand or based on your research.

  1. Your Favorite Trip to Another Country
  2. Why Learning About Cultures from a Young Age is Beneficial?
  3. When Did You First Take A Trip to Another Country?
  4. How Culture-Centric Upbringing Shapes Someone’s Personality
  5. The Cultural Identity through the Eyes of Younger Generations
  6. How Cultures Evolved Under Different Circumstances
  7. The Connection Between Food and Different Cultures
  8. Favourite Holiday and How Your Culture Celebrates It
  9. A Special Cultural Event in Your Country
  10. Learning About a Country’s Culture Before You Travel

Love and Friendship

The two strongest, most positive feelings people experience in their everyday lives are love and friendship. Stories about these topics are meant to move even the pickiest of readers, and anyone could share a memorable story.

  1. What It Feels Like to Fall in Love for The First Time
  2. Your Most Memorable Family Holiday Moment
  3. Accidentally Misjudging Someone and Becoming Friends After
  4. The Wildest Adventure You’ve Experienced With Your Friends
  5. How Valuable is Friendship in Today’s Society?
  6. What It Feels Like to Lose A Friend
  7. Making Friends with People You Disagree With
  8. The Dream Life You’d Like to Have with Your Significant Other
  9. Should You Have Strict Standards When Choosing a Partner?
  10. Choosing Friends Based on Personal Feelings

Life

Narrative essay ideas based on life revolve around your personal experiences. You may write about the morals you’ve learned, your strengths and weaknesses, and your outlook on life from different standpoints.

  1. What Life Lessons Did You Learn from Living on Your Own?
  2. When Was a Time You Discovered the Truth About Someone?
  3. How Different Would Your Life Be with Different Parents
  4. A Life Lesson You’ve Learned the Hard Way
  5. A Time When You Were a Leader Under Pressure
  6. Jokes You Consider Appropriate and Inappropriate
  7. What Would You Tell Your Younger Self If Given an Opportunity?
  8. How Would You Handle Your Money If You Won a Lottery?
  9. The Moment When You’ve Taken a Risk and it Paid Off
  10. Time When You’ve Lied About Something Important

Education

Narrative essay prompts based on education are about experiences in academia. These could revolve around your stance on educational topics such as opinions on schools or employment prospects.

  1. How Would You Make Sure Education is Free for Everyone?
  2. How to Make Sex Education Less of a Taboo
  3. When is the Right Time to Teach Students About Gender and Sex?
  4. The Course Which Gave You Important Life Lessons
  5. Do you Believe the Educational System is Fair?
  6. Which Subjects to Include and Exclude in Modern-Day Education
  7. How Much Have You Benefited from Online Learning?
  8. Is Online-Only Learning the New Norm?
  9. Is Being Educated More Important than Being Cultured?
  10. Societal Pressure on Young People’s Formal Education

For High School

Which subjects do you particularly enjoy, and what would you change in your schooling? If you’re a high school student, your narrative writing topics may focus on various aspects of life in and around your school and classroom: from how to get the best grade to friendship issues.

  1. The Bad Experience You Had with a Classmate
  2. Improving Your High School Experience
  3. Which is The Most Random Way You Have Made a Friend?
  4. A Negative Experience You’ve Had in School and Learned From
  5. The Moment You’ve Settled on What You Will Study at College
  6. What Have You Learned from a High School Club?
  7. The Book You’ve Enjoyed from a Reading Class
  8. Are Teachers Easily Approachable by Their Students?
  9. The Expectations from Life After High School
  10. Can High School Prepare You for College Life?

Social Issues

The world is riddled with social issues, ranging from hunger to gender inequality. These issues might present you with the perfect narrative topics to write about, no matter if you’re a college or high school student.

  1. Have You Ever Experienced Racism?
  2. Why Volunteering Is Important for Everyone to Experience
  3. Standing up for Someone Who Is Bullied
  4. Eliminating Global Discrimination and Hate
  5. How do you Perceive Feminism?
  6. How to Minimize Effects of Patriarchy and Inspire Equality?
  7. The Positive Effects NGOs have on the Society
  8. How Climate Change is Affecting the World Around Us
  9. Free Healthcare Should Be a Priority for All Governments
  10. The Importance of Handling the Refugee Crisis without Discrimination

Funny and Interesting

Writing topics for a narrative essay about a funny or interesting situation could be a bigger challenge than one might think. Here are some funny and interesting ideas for narrative essay to consider.

  1. Which Is the Funniest Prank You Have Fallen For?
  2. The Assumptions Do People Usually Make About You
  3. What Are Some Interesting Superstitions You Believe In?
  4. Spending a Million Dollars in a Day
  5. Meme Culture and What It Says About Society
  6. Your First Experiences with Alcohol
  7. The Most Random Way You’ve Made a Friend
  8. The Movie You’d Make If You Had the Money
  9. How Did You Diffuse a Serious Situation with a Joke?
  10. The Moment You’ve Felt the Most Alive and Excited

How to Begin a Narrative Essay

Starting an essay can be quite difficult. This is no different when it comes to the narrative essay. Sometimes, the best way to begin is with a bit of a sneak peek. Here is an example:

"I felt my stomach jump into my chest when I saw the red and blue lights flashing behind me. What I didn't know was that the speeding ticket I was about to receive would be the best thing that ever happened to me."


This is an easy and excellent way to kick off any narrative essay. Read our educational blog to learn more about how to write a narrative essay.

Finding the Right Narrative Essay Topic for You

When it comes to topics for an essay, it might be tough to narrow your choice down to a single title to write about. When that happens, you can pay for research papers, essays, and other types of academic writing to get some help from reliable writers. Choosing topics for narrative essay writing is all about you and your sensibilities as a growing writer and a student.