80 Narrative Essay Topics for Writing a Killer Story

[The post information was updated on February, 2023]

There is no doubt that writing a narrative essay is an effective way to develop your creativity. Any other type of academic writing does not assume as much freedom in selecting a way of telling a story. However, there are some particularities to consider in terms of outlining and structure. Narrative writing is tightly bound to a topic. When you select the main idea of your future writing, it defines a lot on the goals of creating your paper.

What is a narrative essay?

Narrative essays are more about storytelling than about argument or description, like with argumentative or descriptive essays. The author’s goal would be to expose the story to an audience in an appropriate way and explain the significance of this story’s outcome. In other words, you have to understand why the story matters to you, or society, or the world, and formulate the result of the experience gained in terms of the story. When writing a narrative essay, keep in mind that the text should contain some of the obligated elements. Among them are characters, plot, surroundings, and cohesiveness between the components.

Our essay writing service writers collected some of the most exciting narrative essay topics that would help you make your papers unique. To make it easier to look for the right ideas for your essay, we divided the list of topics into several categories. We hope that you would appreciate this selection and have an easy time completing your papers.

Autobiographical narrative essay topics

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1. What experience in your childhood was the most unforgettable?
2. Describe your first day at school. What is your brightest memory from that day?
3. What place does friendship take in your life? Do you have many friends? Was it easy for you to make friends when you were a kid?
4. How can you describe your personality? What are your strengthens and weaknesses?
5. Who are the people who influenced your life the most? What do you want to tell them?
6. What do you like to do the most in your life? What are your passions?
7. Describe the best day in your life.
8. Is it essential for people to have brothers and sisters? What about you? How do you feel about that?
9. Describe your future as you can see it now.
10. What memories are helping you in the most awkward situations?
11. What are your ten life rules?

Cultural narrative essay topics

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1. Describe your cultural identity.
2. Tell about your family traditions.
3. Tell how surroundings define the culture (a story from your experience).
4. Describe a situation when knowing the culture matters a lot.
5. Which countries’ culture do you like the most and why?
6. Which traditions of your country do you appreciate the most?
7. Tell about dishes that are typical of your culture.
8. Describe the celebration of your favorite holiday in your country’s tradition.
9. How culture relates to patriotism (a story from your experience).
10. Can the culture change because of some conditions (a story from your experience)?

The success story narrative essay topics

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1. Describe your very first memories. Why do you think you memorized this exact part of your life?
2. Did you ever rescue someone from serious injuries? Have you received acknowledgments?
3. Tell about the best surprise you prepared for someone of your closest friends or relatives.
4. What was the most significant event of a national scale you ever observed or participated in?
5. Depict the funniest thing that you were involved in – whether being an active participant or just an observer.
6. Describe the day when you just felt happy. Was it about things you were doing, people you were with or just the way you felt?
7.  What was the luckiest day of your life? What other factors besides luck aided you to get what you wanted?

Personal development narrative essay topics

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1. What was the most altruistic thing you’ve ever done? Do people whom your actions were directed towards know about what you did?
2. Describe a situation in which you acted in a way you didn’t expect from yourself. What were you supposed to do according to your self-perception?
3. Have you ever violated your moral principles because of pressure from a certain social group?
4. Tell about the first crush on someone from your childhood or early school years. Has this experience influenced your self-esteem?
5. Describe the day you understood you were not a child anymore.
6.  Did you ever regret about not doing or saying something? Would you react another way if this would happen to you now?
7. Did you experience a decision that was taken despite your conflicting moral principles? What forced you into doing it that way?
8.  Tell about the strangest person you met, how it occurred, and why that person appeared weird to you. Would you like to make friends with such people?
9. Depict a positive experience of following someone’s advice. How did this experience change your attitude towards taking recommendations from others?
10. Tell about the largest disappointment you had. Would you be frustrated about that incident if it was taking place now?

Resolving the problem essay topics

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1. Describe the most embarrassing experience which occurred to you at school and the way it influenced your relationships with classmates.
2. Tell about the toughest fight with a friend. How have you succeeded to reconcile the conflict?
3.  Depict a dangerous situation you experienced. Would you change the way you acted in that situation if you could? How?
4. Have you been bullied by someone? What steps did you take to reduce the bully’s hostility towards you?
5. Have you been at risk to miss a very important event in your life? How did you manage to be present at it?
6. Tell about something you made to follow your dream or desire despite the decrying of others. Did it really help you to come closer to your dream coming true?
7. Have you felt extremely proud of yourself? Tell how it happened and about what you think can make you feel that way again.
8. What was the most frightening experience you have had? How did you survive it? Do you try to avoid similar situations now, or do you not feel fear about it anymore?
9. Describe circumstances in which your reputation was at risk. How did you succeed to solve the issue?
10. Did you make someone change their position about something crucial? Do you think you acted correctly? Should you let a person stay with his or her own beliefs?

Traveling topics for narration

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1. Tell a story about your first experience of traveling without parents. How did you feel being on your own?
2. Have you ever missed a plane, train, or bus? What did you do and what did that situation teach you?
3. What did your first trip to a village or city (depending on where you live) teach you? Would you visit that place again or even move there?
4. Describe the journey you liked the most in you life. What was the key factor which influenced your decision to consider that trip as the best one?
5. When you were traveling, something went wrong. Narrate the story. Can you omit being in that situation?
6. Did you meet new friends while traveling in a funny way? Share your experience.
7. What impressed you the most the first time you traveled abroad? Were you surprised with some traditions of other cultures?

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Morality and ethics narrative essay topics

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1. Have you ever told a white lie in your life? What was the most memorable situation? Was the outcome of the situation positive or negative?
2. Tell how you would act if you were one of Cinderella’s sisters. How would you react to the fact that you have a new sister? Would you be jealous? Would you ever feel ashamed from your mother oppressing her?
3. How do you behave with strangers? Remember the most memorable situations with strangers. Is it comfortable for you to make friends with strangers? Would you help a stranger in need?
4. What do you think about drinking alcohol? Is it morally acceptable to drink alcohol? What was your most negative experience connected with alcohol?
5. How would you like to die? Every human being is coming from somewhere and going to somewhere. Tell the perfect ending of your life and why it sounds right for you.
6. Do you have your own moral code? Tell about your main moral principles and whether it has helped you to overcome problems.

Narrative essay topics for university students

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1. How does society’s opinion influence the formation of a child’s personality? And where is the mind developed, at home or on the street?
2. Should financial literacy be taught at school or home?
3. Describe your view on the possibility of human colonization of other planets. And can our future be behind it?
4. What makes a good leader? And how do you understand the phrase, “Subordinates of a good leader should not know that they are being controlled”?
5. How does the theme of the apocalypse used in cinema affect the future? And can it attract a sad outcome?
6. Should you start investing when you don’t have capital yet? And how do you look at investments in your life?
7. What does education give a modern student? Can a person do without it among such a wide variety of courses?

Narrative essay topics for college students

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1. Imagine that you look five years ahead. What do you see in your life?
2. Describe how you would feel if your most prominent dream came true right now. What would you think, and what should you do next?
3. If you could travel back in time, where would you like to be and why?
4. Imagine that you were offered a superpower. What would you like to be able to do as a superhero?
5. How do you think humanity should deal with cutting down trees, and will this problem become worse than plastic if we replace plastic with wood?
6. What type of charity deserves more attention and why?
7. What opens the door for us on the way to a better result, and what should you apply in your life?

Narrative essay topics for high school students

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1. If a person was inconspicuous at school, does that mean he or she will have to carry this label of inconspicuousness for a lifetime? Or can anything change?
2. What should influence the choice of a future profession: parents, the environment, or the student’s preferences?
3. Is love possible in school years? Or should the feelings that arise in this stage of youth not be considered important?
4. How can a child learn to defend personal boundaries? Where can a child learn this or ask for advice?
5. Describe your opinion about bullying. Is this topic relevant today?
6. Tell us about a historical figure whose life you think positively impacted our world.
7. Does a child need regular personal funds, or is pocket money not required if the parents buy everything?

Inspiration sources for narrative essay topics

Narrative essay topics writing help from our writers

We believe that this selection of narrative essay topics would help you write a killer story. However, we recommend you check more materials on our website, as we have much more to suggest to you in academic writing. For example, read this sample of a narrative essay list with ideas for your thematic essay.

Moreover, we recommend you learn more about our writers’ team that has a lot to offer in terms of creating papers on any topic. We collaborate with experts in writing who have enough skills and experience to deliver the perfect result. We select all our writers carefully and test their skills to get which area or discipline is the most natural for them. This way, the EssayShark team can deliver the best papers and essay help on any topic. We do not require much personal information about you to assist you with your tasks.

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