Narrative essay topics

Students at school and colleges are assigned narrative essays quite often. If you got this task as well, there is nothing you should worry about! Such types of papers do not require any specific skills. However, you need to know some basic rules which you will find in this article. Writing a narrative essay gives an opportunity to share stories and experience, creating a vivid plot with well-written characters and various sensory details. If you are not sure what to write about, our article can help as well — we have the best narrative essay topics ideas and writing tips.

How to write a narrative essay?

The first thing you need to do before actually starting your essay is to pick a topic. If you can’t find something you like, don’t get upset. Make a list of things that interest you. Also, you can take a look at the list of topics for a narrative essay presented below and choose the best ones.

As soon as you single out the fields of your interest, google each of them to learn more until you realize that you have found the right one. There are different types of narrative essay topics, so you will have many options to choose from. You can also think of some events you experienced in your life — there will definitely be something great to tell.

After that, you have to plan the content of your paper. How do you want to start and end it? Remember that the introduction should draw the attention of readers, so try to begin your essay in an unexpected way. For example, if you are writing about your first year in college, don’t describe your first day — that is too obvious.

It is best to use the first person (it can be either ‘I,’ or ‘we’) since the purpose of a narrative essay is to talk about important things from the point of view of the narrator. Of course, you can write in the third person if you think that it will fit your essay better.

Don’t forget to work on the details! Adding descriptions of objects, places, and characters will make your story vivid and compelling. Moreover, such details help to impress your readers and create an engaging atmosphere.

Sometimes you might feel that your story is missing something, even if you have a well-planned plot and bright characters. In this case, you can employ some interesting twist: for example, something unexpected happens in your narrative — it can be the antagonist who turns out to be a totally different person, a big event that changes the lives of many people, or a shocking truth that suddenly comes out. You can also add some jokes and depict funny moments if you feel that it is going to work perfectly for your story. Of course, there are different narrative essay topics to write about, but you can surely find something interesting or amusing to write for each.

Make sure to revise the first version of your essay. Then, take some time to relax and take a break from writing. After at least a few hours, go back to your essay to have a fresh look at it. In order to get the most out of your editing, do the following:

1. break down big sentences into smaller ones;
2. remove or substitute terms that have more than one meaning because your readers may misread them;
3. rephrase sentences that sound confusing;
4. delete all the ideas and arguments that are repetitive;
5. detect grammar and spelling mistakes and correct them;
6. make sure the paper is formatted correctly;
7. check the structure of the essay to see if it has all the necessary parts.

Note that you need to proofread your essay more than once since you might miss some mistakes revising it the first time.

Narrative essay topics for college students

A narrative essay is a great way to share your knowledge, feelings, and experience. Even if you are not into writing that much, don’t miss an opportunity to write such a paper. It’s not a difficult type of paper to work on, but make sure to find good topics for a narrative essay that you are passionate about. This way, your writing experience will be truly awesome.

Here are some great narrative essay topics ideas for college students:

• Talk about the book you have recently read. Why did you like it? What did this book teach you? Talk briefly about the plot and main characters.
• Describe your first day at college. How did you feel?
• Describe stress sources in your daily life. What is the most stressful thing you encounter every day? How do you cope with stress?
• If you live in a dorm, describe your experience. Do you enjoy living there? Who are your roommates?
• Describe your career plan. How do you imagine your future? What is your dream job?
• Tell your readers about the hardest exam you have ever had. Which discipline was it? How did you prepare for it?
• Describe a tough decision that you had to make. When did it happen? What did you decide in the end?
• What challenges did you overcome in college? How did you cope with everyday stress and achieve your goals?

Even if you haven’t found the topic you like, there are still a lot of narrative topics for college you can choose from. Just do enough research and pick something you really like!

Narrative essay topics for high school students

If you are a high school student and got a narrative essay as an assignment, don’t get upset that you don’t know what to write about — our essay writing service got a list of great narrative essay topics you could use to write your narrative essay:

• Talk about the city you were born in. What are the special fairs or holidays that are common only in your city?
• What role does family play in your life? How do you spend time together?
• What is your greatest accomplishment?
• Describe your first day at school. How did it go? How did you feel that day?
• Talk about any field trip your class took. Where did you go? What were you doing?
• Talk about your favorite teacher. Why do you like him or her?
• Tell the readers about your best vacation. What did you do then? Did you go somewhere or stayed at home?
• What is your favorite subject at school? Why do you like it?

Fun and easy narrative essay topics

Sometimes you don’t feel like spending too much time on any assignments, or you just wish to write a narrative essay without putting much effort in it. For both cases, there is a great solution — to pick some easy and fun narrative essay topics from this list:

• Describe your favorite meal. Which type of cuisine is it? Is it sweet, sour, or spicy?
• Think of the best childhood memory you have. How old were you? What were you doing that day? How did your mood change?
• Talk about your favorite genre of music. Why do you like it? Does it help you to get through hard times?
• What would you do if you had a billion dollars? Tell the readers how you would spend it. Would you donate it to charity?
• Which super-power would you like to have and why? Where and when would you use it?
• Tell the readers about the best journey you had in your life. Where did you go?
• Describe a ridiculous misunderstanding you had with another person. What happened? How did the situation turn out for both of you?

So here are short narrative essay topics for an easy essay for your consideration.

Personal narrative essay topics

If you think that you are ready to share a little bit about yourself in the essay, you can go ahead and write personal narrative essay topics. Remember that you don’t have to share anything if you don’t feel like doing that. But if you are completely sure that you want to talk about your experience and emotions, describing them in details, then go ahead and do that! Here is a list of narrative essay topics you can use to write about yourself:

• Do you have a role model? If yes, describe this person. Why does he or she inspire you?
• What is the greatest conversation you had in your life? Who was the person you were talking to? What did you talk about?
• Tell about a song that has touched you emotionally. Where did you hear it for the first time? What feelings does it evoke?
• Tell your readers about a moment that has changed your life. When did it happen and how? How old were you?
• Which devices play the most significant role in your life and why? How often do you use them and for which purposes? 
• What is the best news that you have ever received? When did it happen? How much did this news influence your life?
• What is your best childhood memory? How old were you?
• What do you do when you feel depressed? How often does it happen to you?

Argumentative narrative essay topics

There are always issues that have more than one perspective. You can always choose one of these as a topic for your essay, but you have to be ready that they will not be easy to write about. On the other hand, topics like these give us a lot to think about, and eventually, we change or alter our views. Here are some interesting narrative essay topics that you might find controversial:

• Does Facebook sometimes make other people feel sad or depressed? Why does it happen? You could share your personal experience or stories that your friends and family told you.
• Gender bias in universities and colleges: have you ever faced it? How did it influence your studies? Do you have friends that experienced the same situation as you did?
• How do social standards influence teenage girls? Tell a story about how stereotypes impacted your life and how you fought them. You can also share other stories and compare them.
• What does a profile on social media tell us about people? It is true that people lie about themselves to look better on social media? Why do people do that? Does it make them feel miserable in the end when they realize that their lives don’t look that way?
• What role does religion play in the lives of modern people? How did you come to the understanding that you believe or don’t believe in God? You can share your experience with religion or tell stories that your friends and family told you.
• Video games: do they distract young people from studying or actually help to develop new skills? Which experience do you have with video games and do you enjoy playing them or not?
• Is modern art still important to society as it was hundreds of years ago? Do you often visit art galleries, and if so, describe how you feel when you walk into the museum and look at pictures or sculptures?

Final Word

There are many good narrative essay topics that were covered in this article, but you are not limited to them. If you search really well, you will surely find something exciting to write about. Always believe in yourself, work hard, and you will write the best essay!