Narrative Essay 101

Out of all the essay types, narrative essay writing is one of the most common and misunderstood types of writing in schools and colleges. It consists of five paragraphs with three distinct sections, opening, body, and closing or conclusion.

Instructors check students’ writing and thinking capabilities by providing diverse essay writing topics to them. In case they are not offered one, they need to work on one and come up with ideas for a narrative story.       

Choosing The Best Topic For Your Essay

If you have never written a narrative essay, it could be a hassle to come up with narrative story ideas. But, it is not that hard if you know what you need to find and hone it to your best interest. 

Something That Resonates With Readers

The primary purpose of writing a narrative is to connect with readers. Writers need to weave a narrative that readers can understand and identify with and then draw conclusions from the body.

If a narrative essay does not do that, it is lacking in important areas. 

Influential Life Stories & Experiences

Personal narrative essays are dependent on personal experiences and incidents that can influence a person’s thinking or the course of life. For the sake of composing a topic or title, they need to go down memory lane and fetch stories and ideas to write on. 

Narrative Essay Topics To Choose From

Now, let us take a look at some of the best topics for narratives to choose from:

1. The unforgettable mentor in your life
2. A dangerous experience that made you value life
3. A hilarious situation happened to you in public
4. A moving incident from your childhood 
5. The first time you visited a country abroad
6. The unforgettable day at high school
7. The time you lost a dear friend to the disease
8. Journey of learning a new art or skill
9. An embarrassing story involving you and your best friend
10. Participating in sports for the first time
11. Your thoughts on attending a music concert for the first time
12. The time you helped a person in dire need
13. When you discovered a family secret
14. When you lost the most loving member of your family
15. Changes happened to you after taking an inspirational class
16. The moment you felt alone in a crowd
17. The time you got lost and there was no hope
18. The incident of saving someone in the wilderness
19. The time you cooked a meal using scrapes
20. Your favorite vacations with loved ones abroad
21. An unforgettable trip to tropical islands
22. Making friends in the unlikeliest times
23. Your first day at a new school and meeting someone new
24. The scariest thing you faced in life
25. The time Christmas was absolute fun
26. Your most memorable birthday party
27. When you learned a life lesson the hard way
28. Getting a blessing in disguise
29. The best day of your entire life
30. The day a tragedy found you
31. Getting your first pet
32. Meeting your best friend
33. Losing a dear one
34. The day you helped a stranger and became friends
35. Talk about responding to a natural disaster
36. Visiting dean’s office after a mischief
37. Going to the summer camp with friends
38. When you rode a bicycle in the dirt for the first time
39. The most depressing moments of your life
40. Getting into a serious argument with a loved one
41. The day you were treated unfairly
42. The day you went for a ski for the first time
43. Helping a stranger in a new city
44. The time you faced racial discrimination
45. When you misjudged a person and felt ashamed
46. The most memorable day playing at the beach
47. The most unforgettable present you ever received
48. The day you got injured severely
49. The beginning of a long relationship
50. Parting ways with a loved one
51. Driving a car for the first time
52. The first time you experienced flying
53. Meeting a stranger in a subway
54. The incident that made an ordinary trip extraordinarily
55. Getting punished for an offense you didn’t commit
56. The time you discovered a truth about someone
57. The day you almost drowned at the beach
58. Learning a life lesson from an elder
59. Seeing a car accident and helping the injured
60. The favorite hiking episode of your life 

Exceptional Narrative Ideas & Topics

In this section, we will go through some of the best narrative essay ideas and topics that you can explore in your narrative essays.

60+ Excellent Topics For Your Narrative Essay

If the above-mentioned suggestions were not enough for you, there is no need to panic as we have 60+ more essay topic ideas for you to choose from.

1. Experiencing unique family traditions as an adult
2. How do you celebrate your cultural holiday
3. How a family tradition surprised you
4. How knowing diverse cultures shaped your thinking
5. Feeling embarrassed among other cultures on holiday
6. Changing cultural traditions to grow
7. How social media changed your cultural perceptions
8. Why food is not just something you eat
9. How a culture changes a person\’s thinking
10. Defining your cultural identity from early childhood
11. The time you disagreed with a loved one
12. The conflict that almost cost you your friendship
13. When you had to deal with bullying aggressively
14. Experiencing a loss through suicide
15. The graduation day at high school
16. The day a classmate got caught cheating
17. Living through a near-death experience due to medical negligence
18. Meeting a car accident on New Year  
19. The day you endured humiliation 
20. The most memorable act of charity
21. Saving your friends from a loss
22. Witnessing a beating in the school\’s yard
23. A dilemma you faced and made the right decision
24. The most influential person in your life you hate
25. The time a friend flooded your home
26. When you want the time to stop
27. Failing an easy class for the first time   
28. The scariest moment in class
29. The time you got sick because of food poisoning
30. When you saved a friend’s life
31. The time you went into a creepy house
32. Winning a prize without the effort
33. The first job you loved and hated at the same time
34. Getting a flat tire on the highway at night
35. The things I want to do in my spare time
36. Visiting the ER for the first time
37. The day you encountered the police
38. When parties didn’t need alcohol to be fun
39. The first time you endured physical and emotional pain
40. The superhero in your life
41. The childhood dream you still remember and want to live
42. Living through dull high school before everything changed
43. When you saw someone getting humiliated in public
44. Finding time for hobbies in high school
45. The experience of growing up with a high school best friend
46. The greatest academic achievement of your life
47. The school friend you lost touch with
48. The conversation that changed your life for good
49. When you learned a lot by working with a person you despised
50. The good influence your father had on your thinking
51. The time you moved to a new city and made a friend on the first day
52. Doing something illegal for all the right reasons
53. The dichotomy of morals in theory and practice
54. The day you did a thing that is against your morality
55. Spending time with a homeless person on Christmas
56. The time you favored hobbies over responsibilities
57. How you developed your talents
58. The idea of turning your hobbies into something lucrative
59. When your hobbies managed to get you a job
60. Balancing hobbies and studies in high school
61. The most inspirational movie you have ever seen
62. Getting addicted to a novel or a movie
63. Growing from the mistakes to becoming great
64. The day you were moved from the most insignificant thing
65. When becoming only good for something did not cut it
66. The day it was almost impossible to pass the college exam
67. What is the real meaning of attending college and making good
68. What would you do if you had your reality show?
69. If you could travel back in time, what would you change?
70. Choosing a superpower and why that one 

Common Types of Topics

There are recurring themes and settings in ideas for writing a narrative. These include recalling memorable incidents, and experiences, such as losing or meeting someone, visiting a place, getting in trouble, etc.   

The Ideal Length of Topics

Usually, all school and college personal narrative essay ideas follow the same pattern and fall into the five-paragraph format. This means, that one is for the introduction, three for the body, and one for the conclusion. 

In terms of word count, the essays are around 1000 words to 1500 words.

Narrative Essay Topics For School & College Students

If you are thinking the lists for narrative essay topics will not stop coming, you are right. So, here are more than 40 best narrative essay topics.

1. If you were a movie director with no budget constraints
2. Topping your most successful album as a musician
3. A memorable day at the museum
4. The first road trip of your life
5. Visiting Europe for the first time
6. Tasting exotic cuisine in a new city
7. Enjoying live music of your favorite band
8. What would you change about your favorite movie?
9. How would you rewrite your favorite TV serial?   
10. Finding similarities between your favorite DC and Marvel characters
11. Developing your dream game
12. Making music to cheer up sad people
13. Reasons people rely on you in times of distress
14. Why you are the life of the party
15. Why the lies that save lives are not bad
16. Your dream sports team
17. Mentoring cooking to young people
18. Buying the first car of your life
19. The worst day of your academic life
20. When you dance at a part even though you don’t know
21. How to relieve stress during public speaking
22. Your ultimate guide to watching movies and reading books
23. Weird things you have done while waiting in line
24. If you had a billion dollars for a week
25. Realizing dreams through sheer luck or hard work
26. A bad romantic relationship that still haunts you
27. Almost dying while attempting to do something stupid
28. Balancing social and personal life in high school
29. The unforgettable digital life experience
30. The day science rescued you from a dangerous situation
31. Starring in your favorite movie as a protagonist
32. The day a random person on a street became a friend
33. When you decided that partying was a problem
34. Your first experience with smoking and how you felt afterward
35. Patience while waiting for someone
36. Mastering self-control when you cannot have your say
37. Your leadership experience and how it turned out
38. What was your life be like if you had lost your parents earlier in life
39. Compounding the demon during competitions
40. Taking more risks in a group
41. Personal superstitions and how you can save yourself
42. All the pranks you have pulled on your friends
43. Discuss all the false things that people assume about you
44. Being a daredevil in a small community
45. Discuss people who are always disrespectful toward women
46. Do women face pressure to have ideal bodies?
47. Gender roles in your family/ culture
48. The first time you encountered adult content online
49. How to teach sex education at schools
50. How do you do sex education and gender studies at schools?
51. Expectations for boys and girls in conservative households
52. Sexuality and modern movies
53. How sexuality is revolutionizing modern TV
54. Any gender bias experience at school or college
55. Rehearsing for a drama in school with your crush
56. The time you lost a sports match against arch-rivals
57. Topping a class in college without studying at all
58. The craziest thing happened during live sports
59. Your favorite course of studies becoming bland
60. The most memorable day on campus
61. Seeing an old friend after many years
62. When you were coerced by your family to make a poor decision
63. Growing up in a city after being born in the countryside
64. Your first promotion at a part-time job
65. The festival you still miss
66. The most spectacular thing about college
67. The time you got sea-sick
68. A defining moment in your relationship with your parents
69. The best thing about rom-coms
70. How do you fix a broken relationship with a friend