Your professor has finally given you the most exciting of assignments - a narrative essay. You already know how to write it, but now you have to come up with a good topic. And suddenly your brain grounds to a halt. There have been many fun and exciting events in your life, but none of them make for cool narrative essay topics. Before you throw in the towel, let us give you a quick tour of the best options. You are sure to find inspiration somewhere along the way!
Five Types of Narrative Essay Topics
Some say that there only two topics in the world, and all movies, books, and songs use a variation of those. War and love are the major topics, according to some, while others believe the only two storylines are “A stranger comes to town” and “Let’s go on an adventure”. Seeing as your essay is basically a short story, we’ll use these as narrative essay ideas with a twist.
Narrative Essay Topics. The Adventure
Harry Potter, Frodo, and Tony Stark all left the comfort of their homes to brave the unknown, experience life and come back better and stronger. Narrative essay topics for college students and high schoolers can range anywhere from the time you ran away from home at a tender age of five to the hitchhiking trip across Europe you took during the gap year.
Here is a short list of ideas to jumpstart your writing journey:
- The time you and your team traveled to an away game.
- The worst things about moving from one city to another.
- Your favorite family vacation everyone else hates.
- The unexpected pleasures of traveling on your own.
- The missteps you made on your first ever trip abroad.
- How travel broadens our mind and widens our horizons.
- The visit to the ancient city.
Narrative Essay Topics. The Conflict
Every good book or movie is riddled with conflict and stress. A story without problems and friction is bland and boring. So think about all the times you were yelling angrily, about the worst fights you witnessed or the issues you ran into because of ignorance. Add more than one conflict into your narrative essay to make it as exciting as the first “Saw” movie.
Use these topics as samples to model:
- The time you had to make a tough choice in one minute.
- How a popular kid turned into an outsider and back again.
- The stupid reasons for your fight with your best friend.
- How the “keep calm and carry on” strategy worked for you in high school.
- When and why did your fear of flying emerge for the first time?
Narrative Essay Topics. The Lesson
Among all the experiences you’ve had in the course of your life, some stand out. These are the most trying times when you had to make a difficult choice or overcome a difficulty. After such events, you become a better person. This type of narrative essay topics for college students is very similar to reflective essay titles. The difference lies in the writing style. While narrative papers tend to concentrate on the events and timeline, reflective essays should focus on the writer’s emotions, thoughts, and struggles.
The most popular narrative essay ideas in this category include:
- The life before and after you fell in love for the first time.
- How you enjoyed the first days of living on your own.
- The ways you coped with the loss of a close family member.
- When did you become so distrustful of people?
- How did you become friends with a person who is nothing like you?
- Some lessons yoy learned in you life.
- How your personal strengths affecting your life.
- Disturbing things in my life and how i can handle it.
Narrative Essay Topics. The Win
These narrative essay topics for college students are the easiest to come up with and the most pleasant to describe. You can pick any of your numerous successful experiences and explain its significance. Your win doesn’t have to be big or outrageous, but it should be something important to you. Like that time when you took dance lessons to impress a girl (or a boy) in your class.
Here are some exciting and funny narrative essay topics you can choose from:
- How did you impress the HR person during your first ever job interview?
- What was the hardest school assignment you rocked?
- How did you become a volunteer at a dog shelter?
- How long did it take you to save the money for your first electric guitar?
- The time you rose up again after an epic fail.
- The time you have made right actions in a critical situation.
- How did you cope with your fear?
- Your experience of achiving goals through cooperation.
- Your leadership experience.
Narrative Essay Topics. What If
If you prefer funny narrative essay topics, this category will be the perfect fit. But before you start writing, ask your professor whether you can submit fictional narrations. If you receive a go-ahead, put on your “imagination hat” and think of an idea that you’ve always wanted to explore. It can be a UFO sighting or a potential future career. There are no limitations, when you ask yourself, what would happen if you…
Here are some narrative essay ideas we’ve devised off the top of our heads:
- Which superpower would you like to have if you were a superhero?
- What would you do with a million dollars?
- If you could turn into an animal, which would you pick?
- How would you change the storyline of your favorite book?
- What would you do if you became the President of the United States?
- What if your three wishes become true?
Don’t despair if you need to think of a title for your narrative paper. Skim through our five categories and example of serious and funny narrative essay ideas. We hope to jumpstart your imagination. But if you are still stuck, don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team. They are always online and willing to help.
