The Best Narrative Essay Topics and Ideas for Students

You may be an inborn writer who cannot spend an hour without typing or scribble some kind of text or editing it. Or you may be a student far from the creative industry who just has to complete the required minimum of writing tasks, but sooner or later, you will face it. The narrative essay. 

Actually, this task is not as complicated and effort-consuming as, say, argumentative papers or midterms, yet it has its tricks. The biggest trick you need to consider is picking the right narrative essay topics. 

A narrative essay can also be renamed ‘a story.’ Yes, it is that simple. It is a story about something you find interesting or manage to cast as interesting. Often, students assume they have to speak of something deeply personal, and so they feel uneasy and wary right from the start. Fear not. The choice of topics for a personal narrative essay is immense, and it can concern you very laterally and indirectly. From books to movies to classes that interest you, you can pick any topic and spin it into a great piece of writing. Read tips on how to pick a topic smartly and find a list of amazing and impressive topics ready for use!

Key Points to Consider when Writing a Narrative Essay

Remember that first of all, you write an academic paper, although it looks like free prose. If you are not an experienced writer, do not opt for some experimental genre or style and write as if you are writing some school essay. So, observe the structure, the tone, and the mood. 

The structure of narrative essay writing is classic: 

• introduction with a thesis;
• body paragraphs;
• conclusion. 

Yes, observe this traditional sequence, and you will not lose the game. The introduction provides the general background or some interesting note that attracts readers at once. A thesis says what exactly will be told in the story. 

Body paragraphs need to be coherent as well: provide a topic sentence, and then expand on the topic with different details. Thus, you will arrive at the end, that is, conclusion. Here you say what you have learned personally or what takeaway the readers should get from the story. 

 The tone may be semi-formal but avoid slang or rude words. The story is for learning purposes, so you are to comply with academic requirements. In blogs or on social media, you have more freedom with the language, but here you have to comply with a strict code of academic writing. Remember it when you consider whether to use something doubtful in your story or not. 

The mood should be positive. Yes, you are required to tell the truth, whether you speak about yourself or of some unrelated events. But no one wants to hear the truth about hardships, failures, and so on. This story should be inspiring, so choose the topic that allows for optimistic interpretation. Or if you ultimately want to speak of something sad, find a lighter side of it, and mention it closer to the end. 

Draft, redraft, and proofread the paper. Typos and rude grammar flaws will destroy even the most dramatic and stylistically elegant prose. Do not let it happen. 

How to Select a Good Narrative Essay Topic?

What’s the main trouble with finding really impressive narrative essay ideas? For your story to be successful with readers, it should have a topic that is interesting to you and to them. But for the story to be written at all, its topic should be appealing to you, first of all. Yes, you can spin a perfect captivating narration even on the most commonplace and boring foundation if that foundation resonates with your interests and values. So, first of all, ask yourself: what would I want to say? What problem or case would I want to highlight? That’s your starting point. 

• Refresh your memory – you may have some teachable or touching moments to share;
• Look at your family – its history or its traditions may be of high interest to others;
• Look at your community;
• Look at your newsfeed – social media provide a bounty of ideas and topics to discuss;
• Look for guidance to tailored topic lists that you can find online;
• Look through the list we offer you and select something that looks promising to you. 

While doing your narrative essay writing, remember these simple tips: keep it positive, keep it short, and keep it coherent. Say less, but say it in clear sentences and with visible logic. If you follow these basic rules, your story will look decent and polished, at its minimum.

Our List of Interesting Narrative Essay Topics

Now closer to the business. Here are about 80 narrative essay ideas in different areas of human life that are bound to attract the attention of potential readers. Use them as they are or tweak them to better meet your needs. 

Art and culture

1. How you read Shakespeare or another classic author for the first time. 
2. Has it ever happened that you decided to read a book after you watched a movie based on it (and what were the impressions)?
3. Your favorite book. 
4. Describe why you like (or do not like) poetry. 
5. The best poem you have ever encountered. 
6. The most interesting exhibit you have seen in a museum. 
7. The museum you would like to visit or to create (if it does not exist). 
8. What may inspire you to start your own standalone blog (if you do not have one), and what will you fill it with? 
9. Is there a book with a popular evaluation of which you do not agree completely (i.e., you think it is poorly written, or it hosts ideas opposite to what is usually made of it)?

Social media topics 

1. What can make you delete your Instagram account? 
2. Do you think Facebook is outdated and boring?
3. Why is TikTok so popular with young people (or with you, in particular)? 
4. The most hilarious or interesting account on Twitter that you follow. 
5. The recent popular video or mem and why it became popular (in your opinion). 
6. What other social network would you create and why (i.e., the network for elders, animals, network where people share their worst moments only, etc.)?
7. The flood of self-development gurus in social media – does it say anything about them?
8. Do you think you are addicted to social media?
9. What will you do all day if there is no TV, Internet, and gadgets available (but you can have any other stuff)? 

Music and popular songs topics

1. What kinds/genres of music do you like? 
2. Why is classical music so appreciated today? Do you like it?
3. The genre of music you do not understand.
4. Rise of rap and hip-hop popularity. Do you personally like hip hop? 
5. Do you have a special memory or event connected to some tune of a radio station or concert? 
6. The best soundtrack to your taste. 
7. Pop/rock/rap performers and drugs/alcohol. 
8. Ethnic music. Do you like it or its combination with modern music styles?
9. Have you ever wanted to play a musical instrument (or which instrument do you play)? 

Sport life

1. Your favorite sports game/competition to watch/take part in. 
2. The sports that you do not understand or that seem really weird.
3. What would you include in the Olympics? Or exclude, maybe?
4. Dangerous kinds of sports and why people practice them. Would you like to try it one day?
5. Is parkour a kind of sport? 
6. Would you like to see skating as a part of the Olympics?
7. Have you ever participated in a marathon? 
8. The best football game you have watched.
9. The funniest sports incident that you heard of (or witnessed). 
10. Doping in sports. Should it be made legal if everyone seems to use it?

Traveling 

1. The longest or the farthest trip you have taken. Has it changed you in some way? 
2. Would you like to visit the North Pole and Arctic regions?
3. The travel destination of your dream. 
4. Is it better to travel by plane or by train?
5. The trip you will always remember. 
6. The natural or historical sight that impressed you greatly. 
7. Your experience “expectation vs. reality” in your travels. 
8. Tips you would give to people who go for the first time to the place you know well. 
9. Would you like to spend a whole year traveling? Where would you go? 

Fun topics

1. Do cats really rule the web?
2. The worst advice you have ever seen on the web. 
3. Your experience “expectation vs. reality” in online shopping. 
4. Have you ever been in an awkward situation that turned out really funny?
5. The funniest thing your sibling ever did as a toddler. 
6. Jokes that you used to love but do not find funny anymore because you gained a better understanding of life. 
7. Is there a joke that will perfectly reflect some incident in your life?
8. The funniest movie. 

Sensitive and complex topics 

1. Gender equality – can you see it in society from your personal experience? 
2. Harassment – do you know someone who has come through it? How was the situation resolved?
3. Do you think society expects more/less from you because of your gender? 
4. How would you tackle the wage gap if you were a politician and had powers to influence the situation?
5. Do you think students in schools should learn the basics of every religion just to have an understanding of it?
6. Your personal religious experience. 
7. What religious ceremony would you like to visit? 
8. Has your faith changed your life or helped you in some way?
9. Have you ever had a religious dispute with representatives of other religions? What was it about?
10. Should religion influence the political and secular life of people?

Personal experience related topics 

1. What I do to motivate myself to do challenging or hard things. 
2. Overcoming the fear: it is possible. 
3. My brightest school memory. 
4. Finding or losing a great friend.
5. What I believe to be my biggest achievement.
6. Where I plan to volunteer (or volunteer already). 
7. The teacher who inspires me or showed me the boring subject form an unexpected angle. 
8. My relationships with family.
9. How I see marriage and building a family of my own. 
10. The startup I want to launch. 
11. My experience of camping. 
12. My stay in a hostel. 
13. The funniest event in your life. 
14. The teachable moment you remember till today. 
15. What are ethics and/or morality to you?

Education questions

1. Children should read more fairytales and magic stories because they develop imagination. 
2. Children’s literature in America has fewer fairytales and more parables and moralistic stories. 
3. Why is it important to study foreign languages? 
4. Have you ever performed a chemical or physical experiment? How did it turn out?
5. Is STEM more important than Humanities? 
6. Have you decided about your career yet?
7. What subjects should be added to the curriculum and or excluded? 
8. Should every student complete a thesis, or can there be some exceptions? 

We Will Gladly Help You with Your Narrative Essay

Now it is high time for you to write a narrative essay on one of the topics we have suggested. Not sure you can cope with this task? Is writing not your cup of tea? Had you rather outsource it to someone else? You are in the right place and at the right time. Our professional writers can develop an enviable and sleek story on any of the topics mentioned here, or they can come up with even more topics, should you need it. 

So let us know which kind of story we should compete, and get the prose worth of anthologies strictly in the set deadlines, just in time to submit it and get the deserved high mark.