A useful guide on how to choose good narrative essay topics

Good narrative essay topics are abundant, but choosing the right one can make the process seem difficult. This guide however should help to demystify the process and help students choose the essay topic best suited to their assignments and their particular essay style.

• 1. Choose the type of narrative you wish to present.

Consider the different types of narratives there are:

• - Historical events
• - Personal events
• - Emotional events
• - Circumstantial events
• - Internal events
• - External events
• - Events which changed other outcomes or circumstances
• 2. Brainstorm ideas that relate to your narrative topic type choice.

Once you’ve chosen the type of narrative you’d like to cover, it’s time to brainstorm different topics that relate to it. Spend at least fifteen minutes thinking of every topic that could possibly be related to the narrative type that interests you, and write them all down.

• 3. Rule out the topics you don’t want to write about.

While you’re brainstorming, you should be writing everything that comes to mind, without filtering it. That means that you’ll inevitably write down a few topics that just won’t work, and that will be obvious to you as soon as you read over your list again. Strike those topics out.

• 4. Narrow down your remaining choices.

Now that you’ve ruled out the completely unsuitable topics, take a look back over your list. There will probably be a few that stand out that you’d like to write about more than the others. Circle these topics.

• 5. Summarize your choices in three sentences.

For each of these topics that you’ve chosen as frontrunners, try and summarize the narrative in three sentences. These sentences should represent the beginning of the narrative, the middle of the narrative, or the end of the narrative. If you find that this step is difficult to carry out with some of these, discard them as being unsuitable.

• 6. Choose your favorite topic from the remaining topics.

The list of topics that remain should all be suitable for a good narrative essay. You can choose from amongst these topics based on your personal preferences. Choose the topic that seems like the most enjoyable to write about and which will provide you with plenty of material for your essay. Topics that give you opportunity for description, examples, metaphors, and similes are some of the most fruitful for narrative essay topics that will impress your instructor.