125 Top Narrative Essay Topics and Ideas

Narrating is retelling a story or action as seen, heard, or read. Narrative essays test students’ capacity to retain information and recall necessary information when required. Narrative essays are also a test of a student’s competence in a language. Finally, they assess a student’s ability to creatively relate events of the past.

To make your narrative essay interesting, here are a few narration ideas:

• Give a brief introduction on the topic for narration
• Mention why you chose this particular topic
• Introduce the characters of the story in a clear and descriptive way
• Relate the actions in chronological order
• Conclude by pointing out the important aspects and lessons of the story

A narrative essay topic could be fiction or nonfiction. Fiction is an imaginary story – a story that never really happened. When a narrative essay is a fiction, it is up to the student to create his characters and plot a scene in tandem with the theme of the essay. When writing fiction, the student can write in the first person or third person.

Essay topics are given to address a particular theme, and it is important that the points raised correlate with the theme. Examples of essay topics could be:

• Young people are easily influenced. Write about someone who has influenced your way of living.
• Volunteer jobs help to build a student’s skills. Describe your first volunteer job and how it helped you grow.
• Parents should acknowledge the achievements of their children. Write about an achievement in your life/school that helped boost your confidence.

Personal Narrative Topics

Writing a personal narrative is creatively talking about your memories, adventures, and experiences. Personal narrative topics can cover any aspect of life. For example, memories covering family, school, work, culture, etc., can be creatively narrated in a personal narrative essay. Here are a few personal narration ideas:

1. How I spent the last holiday
2. Your favorite Christmas holiday
3. Your most memorable birthday
4. Your most memorable holiday
5. Your favorite game
6. Your most memorable trip
7. Your favorite school subject
8. Your most unusual friend
9. Your most memorable day in school.
10. Your most embarrassing moment
11. Your favorite teacher
12. An unforgettable moment in school
13. The scariest experience you ever had
14. The strangest dream you ever had
15. The first meal you cooked
16. Your first self-made pastry
17. The best day of your life
18. A day you will never forget
19. A person you will never forget
20. Your first paid job

Other Personal Narrative Ideas

21. Your first volunteer assignment
22. Your favorite sibling
23. A life lesson you learned
24. Your favorite holiday pastime
25. An accident you witnessed.
26. A wedding you attended
27. A birthday you attended
28. A day at the beach
29. A visit to the zoo
30. A visit to the amusement park
31. concert you attended
32. A visit to the cinema
33. An experience meeting a stranger
34. Your first driving experience
35. A gift you will never forget
36. Your most unusual gift
37. Your first time on a plane
38. A valuable thing you lost
39. A valuable thing you found
40. Helping a stranger
41. The most remarkable movie you watched.
42. A health challenge you overcame
43. Your first night at a hospital
44. A favorite song
45. An experience that changed your life
46. A place that you feel you belong most

Interesting Narrative Essay Topics For College Students

47. Someone that influenced you
48. Meeting an influential person
49. A funny experience you had
50. A skill you learned and how it helped you
51. Participating in an extracurricular activity
52. A dangerous experience
53. A risk you took
54. A secret you discovered
55. The experience of saving someone
56. A lonely moment in your life
57. A remarkable vacation with family
58. A visit to your grandparent’s house
59. An unexpected assistance you received
60. A visit to a historical site
61. A visit to a famous spot
62. A tragic event in your life
63. Losing a loved one
64. Confronting a bully
65. Your first pet
66. A punishment you did not deserve

Adventurous Narrative Essay Writing Topics

67. An experience that made you ashamed
68. A family traditional you enjoy
69. Your first time participating in a traditional ceremony
70. The first traditional meal you ate
71. Your first time cooking a traditional dish
72. A disagreement you had with a friend
73. A charitable deed you did
74. Helping to solve a mystery
75. Helping to solve a crime
76. Helping a neighbor
77. A time you had to apologize for something you did not do
78. The day you graduated from school
79. A wish that came true
80. Your first experience with the police
81. Your first visit to the emergency
82. A birth you witnessed
83. A day summer vacation you will never forget
84. A day you got lost
85. A prize you won
86. An experience you wish you could have again
87. The experience of failing
88. An embarrassing moment in school
89. Making your first deposit at the bank
90. The day you learned the value of money

More Narrative Topics for Essays

91. The day you learned the value of work
92. Your favorite pastime
93. A day you left your chores to play
94. An invaluable lesson you learned
95. The day your hobby got you job
96. Experiencing something new
97. Buying your first car
98. An adventure you will never forget
99. Your first night at a friend’s house
100. Your first teaching experience
101. Your first science project
102. How you learned to respect other people’s culture
103. Your first experience of racial prejudice
104. A moment you felt helpless
105. Your first babysitting job
106. A day you got stranded
107. An experience you wish you never have to relive

Literacy Narrative Essay Topics

Literacy narrative essays describe your experience with literacy skills such as reading and writing. This type of essay is great for reviewing texts, novels, short stories, etc. Through such essays, you can relate your opinion and experience about learning and reading and how you have been positively or negatively impacted. Here are a few ideas for literacy narrative essays:

108. Your favorite novel
109. A story you will never forget
110. The first story you wrote
111. The scariest novel you ever read
112. The worst novel you ever read
113. The most unexpected ending to a novel you read
114. The first poem you ever read
115. A poem you will never forget
116. The most uninteresting book you ever read
117. The first philosophical book you read
118. The best new story you ever read
119. The power of the written word
120. How you learned to write
121. How you learned to read
122. The first sad story you ever read
123. Learning a new language
124. The first foreign language you learned.
125. Your first time being on the school’s editorial board