Great Narrative Essay Topic Ideas
A narrative essay is an essay that is written from the perspective of the writer. It’s often a story of the writer’s experience. It can also be an imagined experience, or one told in the voice of someone else. In those cases, the writing is still from the first person perspective. In a narrative essay, the goal is to share something that the writer has gone through, such as overcoming obstacles in a way that the audience becomes engaged with their writing.
Within the category of narrative essays is the personal literacy narrative essay. What is a literacy narrative essay? This is an essay about a writer’s relationship and experience with the written word.
Clearly a narrative essay is personal to you, so it should be something you are comfortable sharing. You also want your topic to be interesting and relatable to your audience. Ideally, they will be able to envision themselves experiencing whatever it was that you experienced.
At times, it can be challenging to find that ideal topic. Because of this, we’ve put together this list of narrative essay topic examples.
- Write a paper from the perspective of a historical figure like Frederick Douglass
Is there someone from your history books that you really relate to? If so, you could write a narrative from that person’s perspective. For example, you could describe President Lincoln’s evening from his perspective before he delivered the Gettysburg address.
- Your first day of college
- The best day you ever spent
- The scariest experience you had
- The bravest thing you’ve ever done
- Your first time away from home
- The biggest surprise
- What it’s like to move to a new state
- Living in the country after being raised in the city
- Learning to use public transportation
- How you clean your apartment
- Your first date
- My first day at work
- One of your worst childhood memories
- The day when I was wrong
- A hard time making decisions
- What pushes children to try drugs for the first time?
- Learning the hard way
- The lie that destroyed a life
- When I realized I wasn't a kid anymore
- A memorable journey
- Your first experience driving a car
This would be a great way to demonstrate your skills at sensory writing. Your narrative essay could explore your nervousness at driving for the first time, the sounds and smells, and the sights you saw on your first drive.
- What it’s like to live in a different country
- A conversation you’d like to have with a celebrity
- The best friend
- The Perfect Encounter
- Have you ever lied to the best friend?
- Your biggest conflict with another person
- If you want to go far, go with a friend
- Helping a friend through a break-up
- Have you changed your major since beginning college, if so why?
- Are you a fanatic about your GPA?
- What influenced you to choose your major
One of the most important decisions you make is selecting the major that will someday lead to your life’s work. Many people are influenced to go into the fields they do by their experiences and the people they meet. This can make for a very interesting essay, if you’d like to explore this topic.
- Why you vote the way you do
- Your first time voting
- Participating in a protest or march
- What it’s like to spend a day volunteering
- Have you ever volunteered to help clean up your community?
- How you changed your political beliefs
- What motivates you to do volunteer work
- Do you recycle?
- What are your personal feelings on global warming
- Your boss
- An experience that changed your core beliefs
- A night that made your dreams come true
- Following a dream
- My dream wedding day
- Winning a race, or losing one
- Turning points in your life
- Your first flight ever
- European road trip
- Learning to fit in
- The day I decided to change my life
- Surviving a tornado
- Learning to make something from scratch
Have you ever built something with your own hands? That’s a really rewarding experience. Of course, sometimes the most interesting part of all of this are the stumbles and failures you encounter during your efforts.
- Your first night in your own place
- Your first major disagreement with your parents
- My dad’s influence on me
- Getting kicked out of your home
- Learning to get along with your siblings as adults
- Do you always find time to be with your family
- Family dinners
- Dealing with divorced parents
- A family member going through a hard time
- My mom’s childhood
- Befriending your step siblings
- Family pet
- Have you ever been lost in your town?
- Winning a championship game
- Losing a championship game
- The time you hit a homerun
- Scoring a goal for the other team
- Getting along with your teammates
- Staying motivated after you failed
- Overcoming a rough childhood
- Living with a disability
- Getting out of the "friend zone"
- Imaginary friend
- Female and male friends: any difference?
- A friend who made me change
- Letter to the childhood friend
- Jealousy in friendship
- A person you are afraid to lose
- A ridiculous misunderstanding with another person
- How long can you be in love with someone?
- Love vs friendship
- Discuss loyal and trustworthy friends in your life
- Have you ever eavesdropped?
- If you could change one thing about you
- Explain what you do well and how you do it
- When you really disappointed someone you cared about
Unfortunately, letting someone down is a universal experience. The good news is that it’s possible to grow from that experience, and develop a stronger sense of empathy. If this topic resonates with you, consider it for your next assignment.
- When someone you cared about disappointed you
- Attending a major sporting event
- My career plan
- Applying to colleges on your own
- College textbook costs
- Did some teachers become your role models?
- Tell about a teacher you would like to be friends with
- Applying for and winning scholarships
- Going to a beach for the first time
- Why do you like being alone?
- Who inspires you and why
- Why do I keep (or don’t keep) a diary or journal?
- Waiting in line story
- City or suburb?
- Eastside vs Westside city
- Nature and the city
- Streets in your hometown
- A city is a living organism
- How citizens are different from countryside people
- The role of teams and clubs in my life
- The weirdest experience with a stranger
- Becoming a citizen
If you’ve immigrated from another country, chances are you’ve got an interesting story to tell. In your narrative essay, you can talk about what drove you to leave your home country, and the efforts you had to make to secure your citizenship in your chosen country.
- Learning to play the piano
- Are computer games a hobby?
- Your first day of kindergarten
- Spending the night outside for the first time
- Making it around campus on your first day
- Surviving your dorm room
- Dealing with a difficult professor
- Dealing with a difficult roommate
- A guide to dorm room cooking
- Works of Papier Mache’
- Finances 101 for the college student
- Finding a job on campus
- Your first job interview
- Funny job story
- An inspirational teacher
For many people, a favorite teacher is one person who had a major impact on their lives. Teachers help us to discover our talents, uncover interests, even assist us during difficult times of our lives. If you’ve had this experience, try writing a narrative essay detailing the things your teacher did to become such a meaningful part of your development.
- How you developed/lost your faith
- When you faced discrimination of some kind
- Tell about a personal morality challenge
- An experience with law enforcement
- Being the victim of the crime
- Devices that play the biggest role in your life
- Were you ever stopped by the police?
- Were you ever in an accident?
- Getting your first car
- The farthest you ever drove to
- The role of television in your life
- What reality-show I would like to participate in
- A dangerous experience
- A time when someone judged you first and then realized that he or she was wrong about you
- Your experience with a new technology
Not every narrative essay has to be based on a deep, life changing experience. They can be fun, or simply explore an interesting experience that you had. If you are taking a tech related course, you could write a narrative about your experience with a new video game, IOT device, mobile phone, or app.
- The first time you baked bread
- A mistake that shaped your life
- Living with an illness or disability
- An embarrassing moment
- The best you’ve ever felt
- How to juggle
- How to do a cartwheel
- Building your own video game
- How to change your oil
- How to change a tire
- Buying a new car
- What did you buy with your first paycheck?
- Trying your favorite dish for the first time
- How to make a birthday cake
- A walk through of your favorite video game
- How to do the floss
- Operating an iphone
How to Write a Literacy Narrative Essay - Topic Suggestions
If you’re stuck on how to write a literacy narrative essay, start with some of these great topic ideas.
- Geology and Himalayas
- What makes you proud of yourself?
- An act that could make your ancestors to be proud of you
- Fun holiday traditions
- A time when you were grateful to be an only child
- Adopting can never be compared with having biological children
- Your best time in an amusement park
- What music can change your mood?
- A time that the power went out
- An experience that you think has only ever happened to you!
- An experience of solving a dilemma
- A time when you saw a person in a different light
- A random act of kindness
- Is kindness a weakness?
- A timeline of your experiences as a reader
If you’re passionate about writing, chances are the books you’ve read have had a major influence on your development over the years. It can be fascinating to learn about the literature experiences of emerging writers.
- A conversation with a favorite historical writer
- A book that changed your life
- The book that keeps teaching me
- Essays that shaped your personal belief
- A writing genre that you’ve recently discovered
- The most interesting book you’ve ever read
- Your favorite authors
- A poem that you want read at your funeral
- A book you once hated that you now love
- The books you recommend to people most
- Desert island books
- Your favorite young adult authors
- Your favorite poets
- Your favorite non fiction authors
- How literature influenced your political beliefs
- Finding your literary voice
- Alternative literature that has influenced your writing
- The role of spoken word in your life
- How your taste in literature evolved
- The teacher who most influenced your literary path
- The first writing you were ever confident enough to publish
- Your favorite satirist
- Your favorite essayist
- Your experience interning at a literary magazine
- Meeting your favorite author
Narrative Essay Advice
The most important thing to remember when writing a narrative is that you’re sharing an experience that nobody else has had. This means you have to be very descriptive in your writing. Describe the scenery, your feelings, and use sensory words. Ideally, people will be able to visualize as they read your personal story.
Are You Ready to Share Your Story?
Writing a narrative essay is difficult, but it’s rewarding at the same time. Take one of the topics listed here, and write something that is sure to be as meaningful to your readers as it is to you.