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50 Engaging Narrative Essay Topics for High Schoolers

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What’s Covered:

Narrative essays vs. analytical essays, how to pick the right narrative essay topic, elements of a strong narrative essay, engaging narrative essay topics for high schoolers, where to get your narrative essay edited for free.

Narrative essays are an extensive form of writing that gives readers the opportunity to follow along as a person goes through a journey or sets of experiences. Rather than providing analytic insight, narrative essays simply share a story and offer a first-person account. These essays may seem easy to write at first, but it takes a certain finesse to write a narrative essay that is interesting, cohesive, and well-researched. Whether you’re looking for a unique topic to write about, or just want some new inspiration, CollegeVine is here to help! These 50 narrative essay topics are engaging, unique and will have you writing in no time.

A narrative essay is a great way to express your personal experiences and opinions, but it is important to remember that this type of essay is different from an analytical paper. In a narrative essay, you do not need to provide background information or explain your thoughts and feelings; instead, you simply tell a story. It’s important to avoid too much telling in your writing; instead, use creative details and vivid imagery to make readers feel as if they are actually right there with you.

Where You Will Encounter Narrative Essays

This type of essay is typically encountered in high school, where students may be required to write personal statements to prepare for their Common App essay . Narrative essays are also commonly seen in AP Language and Composition. Therefore, it’s important you are aware of the style because you are bound to have a narrative essay assignment.

Of course, before you start writing, it is important to pick the right essay topic. There are many factors involved in the process of picking the perfect narrative essay topic for your story.

You should always choose a topic that you are passionate about, since writing on something you care about will make the process much easier. Not only will it be more interesting to create your paper around something that truly interests you, but it will also allow you to fully express yourself in your essay. You also want to be sure that the topic has enough material to work with. If your chosen topic is too short, you will not have enough content to write a complete paper. For example, if you are writing about your experience getting lost at the mall, make sure that you have enough information to work with to craft an engaging narrative.

The best topic for an engaging narrative essay is one that focuses on showing versus telling, has a clear structure, and provides a dialogue. These elements come together to form an engaging narrative essay. Regardless of what subject you pick, any topic may be turned into a fascinating, A+ worthy narrative using the tips below.

Show, Don’t Tell

To write a good narrative essay, it’s important to show, not tell. Instead of simply informing your audience, show them what you mean. For example, instead of saying “I was nervous,” you could say “My heart began to race and my stomach filled with butterflies.” Also make sure to use sensory details, such as sights, sounds and tastes, and include a personal reflection at the end of your narrative.

Begin with a Strong Opening Line

A good narrative essay will begin with an attention-grabbing opening line. But make sure to avoid common clichés, such as “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Instead, come up with something original and specific to you and your situation. For example: “My pre-calc teacher was obsessed with circles. I mean, he even used circular note cards.” Or, “It all started the day my mom brought home a guinea pig.”

Follows a Three-Act Structure

A strong narrative essay follows the same three-act structure as other essays. But in order to make it interesting, you’ll need to come up with a creative way to break things down into sections. For example, using the guinea pig example from above, you could write the following:

Act 1 – Introduction: The day my mom brought home a guinea pig.
Act 2 – Conflict: The day I had to say goodbye to my beloved pet.
Act 3 – Conclusion: Looking back at how much I miss him now that he’s gone.

Conclude with Personal Reflection

To conclude your narrative essay, you’ll want to explain what this specific experience taught you or how you’ve changed. For example, upon realizing that her pre-calc teacher was obsessed with circles, the writer of the previous example begins to notice circular shapes everywhere. Another way to conclude your narrative essay is by touching on how this experience impacted you emotionally. For example, after losing his guinea pig, the writer explains how much he missed it.

Use Dialogue

Include a conversation in your essay to make it come alive. For example, instead of simply saying that you met a new friend, talk about how you introduced yourselves or what they were wearing when you met them.

narrative writing assignments for high school

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The following list of 50 narrative essay topics is divided into categories. This will make it easier to find a topic that fits your writing style.

1. What is a childhood song that still sticks with you today?

2. Your first day of Kindergarten

3. Talk about a time when you’re siblings looked up to you

4. Describe the best birthday party you’ve ever had

5. Talk about the best day you ever spent with a childhood friend

6. Explain your first childhood hobby

7. Describe your first halloween costume

8. A family vacation gone wrong

9. Your first family reunion

10. Describe a tradition that is unique to your family

11. Describe your family to a person who’s never met them before

12. What frustrates you most about your family

13. If you could only keep one memory of your family, what would it be and why?

14. Describe a time your family embarrassed you in public

15. The most beautiful place in the world

16. Your favorite season and why

17. If you were a part of nature, what element would you be? Why?

18. When you go outside, which of your senses are you most thankful to have?

19. Describe the first time you witnessed a tornado

20. Write a poem about your favorite season

21. Describe yourself as one of the four seasons

22. Describe a time in which you felt connected with nature

23. Describe the first time you played an instrument and how you felt

24. What major event would be much worse if music was removed, and why?

25. If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

26. What would a life without music look like?

27. If you could master one instrument, what would it be and why?

Relationships

28. What if you had never met your best friend?

29. Describe a time when you fixed a broken relationship

30. Talk about a movie that defined a relationship for you

31. Describe your first date

32. Describe the first time you made a friend

33. Describe your relationship with your parents

Self Reflection

34. Have you ever fooled someone? If so, describe what happened and how you felt about it

35. What is the worst thing you’ve done to someone else?

36. Write about the difference between how things seem and how they really are.

37. Have you ever been embarrassed in some way? If so, describe the situation and how it affected you as well as those around you

38. Have you ever witnessed something really beautiful? Describe it

39. Is your glass half empty or half full?

Overcoming Adversity

40. Have you ever been very afraid of something but tried your hardest to appear fearless? If so, describe that experience

41. When have you ever succeeded when you thought you might fail

42. What are your secret survival strategies?

43. Describe the last time you were stressed and why?

44. Describe a time when you were discriminated against

45. The most memorable class you’ve had and why

46. Your favorite study abroad memory

47. Describe your kindergarten classroom

48. Describe your first teacher

49. The first time you experienced detention

50. Your first field trip

Hopefully these topics will get you thinking about a personal experience that could make for a thoughtful and engaging narrative essay. Remember, a strong narrative essay must contain relatable details and a clear flow that keeps the reader entertained and engaged to read all the way to the end.

If you need some additional guidance on your narrative essay, use CollegeVine’s free peer review essay tool to get feedback for free!

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Common core state standards related to narrative writing.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.3 – Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences.

ELA Standards: Writing

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.3 – Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.3 – Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.3 – Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.3a – Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.3b – Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.3 – Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.3d – Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.3e – Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.3 – Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.3a – Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.3 – Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.3a – Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.3b – Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.3c – Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence, signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another, and show the relationships among experiences and events. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.3d – Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.3e – Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or events. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3a – Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.3c – Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole and build toward a particular tone and outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth, or resolution).

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50 Narrative Essay Topics

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but a narrative essay can also tell an exciting story and create vivid pictures in the reader’s mind! We’ve got 50 narrative essay topics designed to prompt students to craft memorable written narratives. These can be modified for students in elementary, middle and high school. Feel free to print the entire narrative essay topics list for plenty of inspiration for your next narrative essay assignment!

Narrative Essay Topics

Your first day of school.
Your most exciting day of school
A field trip that your class took.
Your favorite summer vacation.
A trip that included something unexpected or surprising.
A time that you experienced something spooky.
A time that you experienced something truly frightening.
A time that you learned something new that changed you in some way.
The moment when you met someone who changed your life.
The day that you got your first pet.
A move from one place to another.
Something funny that happened to you.
Something funny that happened to one of your family members or friends.
Something embarrassing that happened to you.
Your favorite birthday party.
A birthday that was disappointing.
A big storm (rain, snow or even a tornado!).
A time that the power went out.
A summer day when the temperature got much higher than expected.
A time when you went to an amusement park.
A time when you got lost somewhere.
A memorable experience with a favorite family member.
A sad experience with someone about whom you care.
Your most exciting moment playing sports.
Your most exciting moment performing in a play, singing, playing music or dancing.
An experience that left you feeling frustrated.
An experience that was hard but ended up being worth it.
A time that you experienced rejection.
A weird encounter with a stranger.
A random act of kindness.
A time that you took a stand for someone or for an issue that you care about.
A moment when you thought you might get hurt but didn’t.
Breaking a bone (or otherwise suffering an injury).
Your first time away from home for the night (or longer).
A time when you experienced a historic event.
Where you were when a major event happened. (Note: You don’t need to have been at the site of the event; this prompt is about where you were when you found out about the event and how you reacted.)
A time when you rebelled against your parents or teacher.
A dangerous experience.
A misunderstanding between yourself and someone else.
A difficult decision that you had to make.
The end of a friendship or relationship.
The beginning of a friendship or relationship.
A time when you judged someone first and then realized that you were wrong about the person.
A time when someone judged you first and then realized that he or she was wrong about you.
A moment when you felt that you were starting to grow up.
A time when you saw one or both of your parents in a different light.
A time when you looked up to your older sibling.
A time when your younger sibling looked up to you.
A time when you were grateful to be an only child.
An experience that you think has only ever happened to you!

Looking for more essay topics? Compare and Contrast Essay Topics Descriptive Essay Topics Cause and Effect Essay Topics Persuasive Essay and Speech Topics

The New York Times

The learning network | 500 prompts for narrative and personal writing.

500 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/03/10/can-writing-on-a-college-entrance-exam-be-properly-assessed">Related Article</a>

Updated, March 2, 2017 | We published an updated version of this list, “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing,” as well as a companion piece, “401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing.”

Every school day since 2009 we’ve asked students a question based on an article in The New York Times. Now, five years later, we’ve collected 500 of them that invite narrative and personal writing and pulled them all together in one place (available here as a PDF ).

The categorized list below touches on everything from sports to travel, education, gender roles, video games, fashion, family, pop culture, social media and more, and, like all our Student Opinion questions , each links to a related Times article and includes a series of follow-up questions. What’s more, all these questions are still open for comment by any student 13 or older.

So dive into this admittedly overwhelming list and pick the questions that most inspire you to tell an interesting story, describe a memorable event, observe the details in your world, imagine a possibility, or reflect on who you are and what you believe.

Childhood Memories

<a href="//well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/11/a-firm-grasp-on-comfort/">Related Article</a><a href="//www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/opinion/sunday/living-with-less-a-lot-less.html"><br /></a>

What Was Your Most Precious Childhood Possession?
What Were Your Favorite Childhood Shows and Characters?
What Were Your Favorite Picture Books When You Were Little?
What Things Did You Create When You Were a Child?
What Places Do You Remember Fondly From Childhood?
Have You Ever Felt Embarrassed by Things You Used to Like?
Do You Wish You Could Return to Moments From Your Past?
Was There a Toy You Wanted as a Child but Never Got?
What Objects Tell the Story of Your Life?
What Are Your Best Sleepover Memories?
What’s the Best Gift You’ve Ever Given or Received?
What’s the Most Memorable Thing You Ever Got in the Mail?
What Nicknames Have You Ever Gotten or Given?

Coming of Age

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2014/03/01/opinion/sunday/what-you-learn-in-your-40s.html">Related Article</a>

What Have You Learned in Your Teens?
What Personal Achievements Make You Proud?
What Are Some Recent Moments of Happiness in Your Life?
What Are You Grateful For?
What Rites of Passage Have You Participated In?
What Advice Would You Give Younger Kids About Middle or High School?
What Can Older People Learn From Your Generation?
What Do Older Generations Misunderstand About Yours?

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/opinion/sunday/too-much-helicopter-parenting.html">Related Article</a>

Who Is Your Family?
What Have You and Your Family Accomplished Together?
What Events Have Brought You Closer to Your Family?
What’s Your Role in Your Family?
Have You Ever Changed a Family Member’s Mind?
How Do You Define ‘Family’?
What Are Your Family Stories of Sacrifice?
What Possessions Does Your Family Treasure?
What Hobbies Have Been Passed Down in Your Family?
How Much Do You Know About Your Family’s History?
Did Your Parents Have a Life Before They Had Kids?
How Close Are You to Your Parents?
How Are You and Your Parents Alike and Different?
Do Your Parents Support Your Learning?
What Have Your Parents Taught You About Money?
Do You Expect Your Parents to Give You Money?
How Permissive Are Your Parents?
Do You Have Helicopter Parents?
How Do Your Parents Teach You to Behave?
How Do You Make Parenting Difficult for Your Parents?
If You Drink or Use Drugs, Do Your Parents Know?
Do You Talk About Report Cards With Your Parents?
Would You Mind if Your Parents Blogged About You?
How Well Do You Get Along With Your Siblings?
How Well Do You Know Your Pet?
What Role Do Pets Play in Your Family?
What Is Your Racial and Ethnic Identity?
Have You Ever Tried to Hide Your Racial or Ethnic Identity?
How Do You Feel About Your Last Name?
What’s the Story Behind Your Name?
What Are Your Favorite Names?
How Have You Paid Tribute to Loved Ones?

Community and Home

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/opinion/sunday/here-comes-the-neighborhood.html">Related Article</a><a href="//learning.blogs.nytimes.com/category/lesson-plans/"></a>

Would You Most Want to Live in a City, a Suburb or the Country?
How Much Does Your Neighborhood Define Who You Are?
What’s Special About Your Hometown?
What Would You Name Your Neighborhood?
Who Is the ‘Mayor’ of Your School or Neighborhood?
Who Are the ‘Characters’ That Make Your Town Interesting?
What Would a TV Show About Your Town Spoof?
What ‘Urban Legends’ Are There About Places in Your Area?
What Local Problems Do You Think Your Mayor Should Try to Solve?
Do You Know Your Way Around Your City or Town?
Have You Ever Interacted With the Police?
How Often Do You Interact With People of Another Race or Ethnicity?
Who Would Be the Ideal Celebrity Neighbor?
What Is Your Favorite Place?
How Much Time Do You Spend in Nature?
What Small Things Have You Seen and Taken Note Of Today?
What Would Your Dream Home Be Like?
What is Your Favorite Place in Your House?
How Important Is Keeping a Clean House?
Is Your Bedroom a Nightmare?
Do You Plan on Saving Any of Your Belongings for the Future?
With Your Home in Danger, What Would You Try to Save?
What Would You Put in Your Emergency ‘Go-Bag’?
Have You Ever Lost (or Found) Something Valuable?

Personality

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/business/29shortcuts.html">Related Article</a>

What Is Your Personal Credo?
What Motivates You?
What Makes You Happy?
What Are You Good At?
How Much Self-Control Do You Have?
How Good Are You at Waiting for What You Really Want?
What Role Does Procrastination Play in Your Life?
When in Your Life Have You Been a Leader?
How Well Do You Perform Under Pressure?
How Well Do You Take Criticism?
Are You Hard or Easy on Yourself?
How Full Is Your Glass?
Do You Have a Hard Time Making Decisions?
How Good Are You at Time Management?
How Productive and Organized Are You?
How Would Your Life Be Different if You Had Better Listening Skills?
How Competitive Are You?
Do You Perform Better When You’re Competing or When You’re Collaborating?
Do You Take More Risks When You Are Around Your Friends?
Do You Unknowingly Submit to Peer Pressure?
How Much of a Daredevil Are You?
What Pranks, Jokes, Hoaxes or Tricks Have You Ever Fallen For or Perpetrated?
How Do You React When Provoked?
How Often Do You Cry?
Do You Think You’re Brave?
What Are You Afraid Of?
What Are Your Fears and Phobias?
What Are Your Personal Superstitions?
Do You Like Being Alone?
How Impulsive Are You?
Are You a Novelty-Seeker?
What Annoys You?
Do You Apologize Too Much?
Do You Have Good Manners?
Are You a Saver or a Tosser?
Are You More Introvert or Extrovert?
Are You Popular, Quirky or Conformist?
Are You a Nerd or a Geek?
What Would Your Personal Mascot Be?
What Assumptions Do People Make About You?

Overcoming Adversity

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/opinion/sunday/what-id-say-to-my-fat-son.html">Related Article</a>

What Challenges Have You Overcome?
What Do You Do When You Encounter Obstacles to Success?
What Are Your Secret Survival Strategies?
How Do You Find Peace in Your Life?
How Have You Handled Being the ‘New Kid’?
Do You Ever Feel Overlooked and Underappreciated?
How Stressed Are You?
How Do You Relieve Stress?
Does Stress Affect Your Ability to Make Good Decisions?
What Challenges Have You Set for Yourself?
How Often Do You Leave Your ‘Comfort Zone’?
What Did You Once Hate but Now Like?
Does Your Life Leave You Enough Time to Relax?
Do You Set Rules for Yourself About How You Use Your Time?
Is ‘Doing Nothing’ a Good Use of Your Time?
What’s Cluttering Up Your Life?
What Work Went Into Reaching Your Most Difficult Goals?
When Have You Ever Failed at Something? What Happened as a Result?
When Have You Ever Succeeded When You Thought You Might Fail?
What Life Lessons Has Adversity Taught You?
What’s the Most Challenging Assignment You’ve Ever Had?
What Kind of Feedback Helps You Improve?
Is Trying Too Hard to Be Happy Making You Sad?
Do Adults Who Are ‘Only Trying to Help’ Sometimes Make Things Worse?
What Are Five Everyday Problems That Bother You, and What Can You Do About Them?

Gender and Sexuality

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/nyregion/city-unveils-a-campaign-to-improve-girls-self-esteem.html">Related Article</a><a href="//learning.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/tyell/"></a>

How Do Male and Female Roles Differ in Your Family?
Do Parents Have Different Hopes and Standards for Their Sons Than for Their Daughters?
Is There Too Much Pressure on Girls to Have ‘Perfect’ Bodies?
How Much Pressure Do Boys Face to Have the Perfect Body?
How Did You Learn About Sex?
How Should Parents Address Internet Pornography?
What Experiences Have You Had With Gender Bias in School?
What Have Been Your Experiences With Catcalling or Other Kinds of Street Harassment?
Do You Know Boys Who Regard Girls as ‘Prey’?
Do You Consider Yourself a Feminist?

Morality and Religion

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/opinion/sunday/does-everything-happen-for-a-reason.html">Related Article </a>

How Do You Help?
What Ethical Dilemmas Have You Faced?
Would You Help an Injured Stranger?
When Is the Last Time You Did Something Nice for a Stranger?
Have You Ever ‘Paid It Forward’?
How Much Do You Gossip?
How Comfortable Are You With Lying?
Have You Ever Taken Something You Weren’t Supposed To?
What Could You Live Without?
Do You Ever Feel Guilty About What, or How Much, You Throw Away?
Do You Ever Eavesdrop?
How Important Is Your Spiritual Life?
Do You Believe That Everything Happens for a Reason?
Can You Be Good Without God?
Are You Less Religious Than Your Parents?
Can You Pass a Basic Religion Test?
What Can You Learn From Other Religions?

Role Models

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Who Is Your Role Model?
Who Are Your Heroes?
Who Inspires You?
What’s the Best Advice You’ve Gotten?
Who Outside Your Family Has Made a Difference in Your Life?
If You Had Your Own Talk Show, Whom Would You Want to Interview?
To Whom, or What, Would You Like to Write a Thank-You Note?
What Leader Would You Invite to Speak at Your School?
What Six People, Living or Dead, Would You Invite to Dinner?

Technology and Video Games

Are You Distracted by Technology?
Do You Always Have Your Phone or Tablet at Your Side?
What Tech Tools Play the Biggest Role in Your Life?
What New Technologies or Tech Toys Are You Most Excited About?
To What Piece of Technology Would You Write a ‘Love Letter’?
Does Your Digital Life Have Side Effects?
Do Apps Help You or Just Waste Your Time?
Do You Spend Too Much Time on Smart Phones Playing ‘Stupid Games’?
When Do You Choose Making a Phone Call Over Sending a Text?
Do You Know How to Code? Would You Like to Learn?
Whom Would You Share Your Passwords With?
What Are Your Favorite Video Games?
What Have You Learned Playing Video Games?
Do You Play Violent Video Games?
When Should You Feel Guilty for Killing Zombies?
Who Are Your Opponents in Online Gaming?
Do You Like Watching Other People Play Video Games?

The Internet

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How Careful Are You Online?
Do You Ever Seek Advice on the Internet?
How Do You Know if What You Read Online Is True?
How Much Do You Trust Online Reviews?
How Do You Use Wikipedia?
What Are Your Favorite Internet Spoofs?
What Are Your Favorite Viral Videos?
What Would You Teach the World in an Online Video?
What Are Your Experiences With Internet-Based Urban Legends?
What Story Does Your Personal Data Tell?
Do You Worry About the Lack of Anonymity in the Digital Age?
Do You Wish You Had More Privacy Online?
California Notice
Have You Ever Been Scammed?

Social Media

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How Do You Use Facebook?
What Is Your Facebook Persona?
What Memorable Experiences Have You Had on Facebook?
Does Facebook Ever Make You Feel Bad?
Would You Consider Deleting Your Facebook Account?
Do You Have ‘Instagram Envy’?
Do You Use Twitter?
Why Do You Share Photos?
How Do You Archive Your Life?
Have You Ever Posted, Emailed or Texted Something You Wish You Could Take Back?
Have You Ever Sent an Odd Message Because of Auto-Correct?
Would You Want Your Photo or Video to Go Viral?
Do You Worry Colleges or Employers Might Read Your Social Media Posts Someday?

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2014/01/08/nyregion/seeking-clues-to-gangs-and-crime-detectives-monitor-internet-rap-videos.html">Related Article</a>

What Are You Listening To?
Who in Your Life Introduces You to New Music?
How Much Is Your Taste in Music Based on What Your Friends Like?
What Music Inspires You?
How Closely Do You Listen to Lyrics?
Which Pop Music Stars Fascinate You?
Who Is Your Favorite Pop Diva?
What’s Your Karaoke Song?
What Song/Artist Pairings Would You Like to Hear?

Movies, Theater and Television

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What Were the Best Movies You Saw in the Past Year?
What Movies Do You Watch, or Reference, Over and Over?
What Movies, Shows or Books Do You Wish Had Sequels, Spinoffs or New Episodes?
Do You Like Horror Movies?
Who Are Your Favorite Movie Stars?
Would You Pay Extra for a 3-D Movie?
What Is Your Favorite Comedy?
What Are the Best Live Theatrical Performances You’ve Ever Seen?
Have You Ever Stumbled Upon a Cool Public Performance?
What Role Does Television Play in Your Life and the Life of Your Family?
What Television Shows Have Mattered to You?
Do Your Television Viewing Habits Include ‘Binge-Watching’?
How Often Do You Watch a Television Show When It Originally Airs?
What Old Television Shows Would You Bring Back?
Why Do We Like Reality Shows So Much?
What Ideas Do You Have for a Reality Show?
What Are Your Favorite Commercials?
How Much Are You Influenced by Advertising?

Reading, Writing and Fine Arts

Read Any Good Books Lately?
Do You Read for Pleasure?
What Are Your Favorite Books and Authors?
What Are the Best Things You’ve Read, Watched, Heard or Played This Year?
What Are Your Favorite Young Adult Novels?
What’s on Your Summer Reading List?
What Memorable Poetry Have You Ever Read or Heard?
What Are Your Favorite Cartoons?
What Magazines Do You Read, and How Do You Read Them?
Do You Enjoy Reading Tabloid Gossip?
When Have You Seen Yourself and Your Life Reflected in a Book or Other Media?
Do You Prefer Your Children’s Book Characters Obedient or Contrary?
Do You Read E-Books?
Would You Trade Your Paper Books for Digital Versions?
To What Writer Would You Award a Prize?
Why Do You Write?
Do You Keep a Diary or Journal?
Do You Have a Blog?
Do You Want to Write a Book?
When Do You Write by Hand?
Do You Write in Cursive?
Do You Write in Your Books?
What ‘Mundane Moments’ From Your Life Might Make Great Essay Material?
What’s the Coolest Thing You’ve Ever Seen in a Museum?
What Are the Most Memorable Works of Visual Art You Have Seen?
What Are Your Favorite Works of Art?

Language and Speech

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/opinion/sunday/like-degrading-the-language-no-way.html">Related Article</a>

What Are Your Favorite and Least Favorite Words?
What Words or Phrases Do You Think Are Overused?
How Much Slang Do You Use? What Are Your Favorite (Printable) Words?
How Much Do You Curse? Why?
Why Do So Many People Say ‘Like’ and ‘Totally’ All the Time?
Do You Sometimes ‘Hide’ Behind Irony?
How Good Is Your Grammar?
What New Emoticons Does the World Need?
Are You Fluent in Vocal Fry, Creaky Voice or Uptalk?
How Much Information Is ‘Too Much Information’?
When Did You Last Have a Great Conversation?
Do You Speak a Second, or Third, Language?
When Do You Remember Learning a New Word?

School and Teachers

<a href="//well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/06/better-ways-to-learn/">Related Article</a>

Do You Like School?
What Are You Really Learning at School?
What Are You Looking Forward To, or Dreading, This School Year?
Would You Want to Be Home-Schooled?
Would You Like to Take a Class Online?
Would You Rather Attend a Public or a Private High School?
How Would You Grade Your School?
What Can Other Schools Learn — and Copy — From Your School?
Is Your School Day Too Short?
What Do You Hope to Get Out of High School?
Do You Have Too Much Homework?
Does Your Homework Help You Learn?
What Is Your Best Subject?
What Memorable Experiences Have You Had in Learning Science or Math?
Are You Afraid of Math?
Do We Need a New Way to Teach Math?
What Are the Best Ways to Learn About History?
How Would You Do on a Civics Test?
How Important Is Arts Education?
What Is Your Most Memorable Writing Assignment?
What Would You Like to Have Memorized?
Does Your School Value Students’ Digital Skills?
What Was Your Favorite Field Trip?
Do You Participate in Class?
What Are Your Best Tips for Studying?
Do You Use Study Guides?
Is Everything You’ve Been Taught About Study Habits Wrong?
How Well Do You Think Standardized Tests Measure Your Abilities?
Do You Have a Tutor?
Are Your Grades Inflated?
When Has a Teacher Inspired You?
What Teacher Do You Appreciate?
What Teacher Would You Like to Thank?
What Do You Wish Your Teachers Knew About You?
Do Your Test Scores Reflect How Good Your Teachers Are?
Do Your Teachers Use Technology Well?

School Social Environment

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/04/02/us/20130403_RESTORATIVE.html">Related Article</a>

What Role Do School Clubs and Teams Play in Your Life?
Who Has the Power in School Social Life?
How Big a Problem Is Bullying or Cyberbullying in Your School or Community?
Does Your School Seem Integrated?
What’s the Racial Makeup of Your School?
Do You Ever ‘Mix It Up’ and Socialize With Different People at School?
Can Students at Your School Talk Openly About Their Mental Health Issues?
Is Your School a ‘Party School’?
How Common Is Drug Use in Your School?
Do You Know People Who Cheat on High-Stakes Tests?
How Does Your School Deal With Students Who Misbehave?
How Much Does Your Life in School Intersect With Your Life Outside School?
Would You Ever Go Through Hazing to Be Part of a Group?

Senior Year, College and Applications

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/opinion/sunday/a-simple-way-to-send-poor-kids-to-top-colleges.html">Related Article</a>

Where Do You Want to Go to College?
What Are Your Sources for Information About Colleges and Universities?
Is College Overrated?
How Much Does the SAT or ACT Matter in Your Life?
What Personal Essay Topic Would You Assign to College Applicants?
What Qualities Would You Look For in a College Roommate?
What Would You Do With a Gap Year?
What Makes a Graduation Ceremony Memorable?
How Do You Feel About Proms?

Work and Careers

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/business/high-debt-and-falling-demand-trap-new-veterinarians.html">Related Article</a>

What Are Your Longtime Interests or Passions?
Do You Have a Life Calling?
What Do You Want to Do With Your Life?
Do You Think You Will Have a Career That You Love?
What Investment Are You Willing to Make to Get Your Dream Job?
Would You Consider a Nontraditional Occupation?
Would You Want to Be a Teacher?
What Hidden Talents Might You Have?
What Do You Hope to Be Doing the Year After You Graduate From College?
Would You Rather Work From Home or in an Office?
What Career or Technical Classes Do You Wish Your School Offered?
What ‘Back-to-the-Land’ Skills Do You Have, or Wish You Had?
What Have You Made Yourself?
What Would You Create if You Had Funding?
How Did You Start Doing Something You Love?
Did You Ever Take a Break From Doing Something You Love?
What Have You Done to Earn Money?
Do You Have a Job?
Would You Quit if Your Values Did Not Match Your Employer’s?
What Are Your Attitudes Toward Money?
Can Money Buy You Happiness?
Where Do You See Yourself in 10 Years?
What Do You Want to Be Doing When You’re 80?
Do You Want to Live to 100?
What Do You Want Your Obituary to Say?

Dating and Friendship

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/fashion/the-etiquette-for-having-your-friends-befriend-each-other.html">Related Article</a>

Have You Ever Been in Love?
What Are the Most Meaningful Relationships in Your Life?
What Advice Would You Give to Somebody Who Just Started Dating?
What Are the Basic ‘Rules’ for Handling Breakups?
What Are Your Beliefs About Marriage?
Are You Allowed to Date?
Is Dating a Thing of the Past?
Do You Have a Best Friend?
How Do You Feel About Introducing Friends from Different Parts of Your Life?
How Should You Handle the End of a Friendship?
How Often Do You Have ‘Deep Discussions’?

Sports, Exercise and Games

<a href="//well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/are-you-programmed-to-enjoy-exercise/">Related Article</a>

Do You Like to Exercise?
How Has Exercise Changed Your Health, Your Body or Your Life?
Why Do You Play Sports?
What Is the Most Memorable Sporting Event You’ve Ever Watched or Played In?
What’s the Most Impressive Sports Moment You’ve Seen?
When Has a Sports Team Most Disappointed You?
What Sports Teams Do You Root For?
Does Being a Fan Help Define Who You Are?
How Far Would You Go to Express Loyalty to Your Favorite Teams?
What Fan Memorabilia Would You Pay Big Bucks For?
What Rules Would You Like to See Changed in Your Favorite Sports?
What Game Would You Like to Redesign?
What Are Your Favorite Games?

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/01/10/travel/2014-places-to-go.html">Related Article</a>

Where in the World Would You Travel if You Could?
What Is Your Fantasy Vacation?
What Would Your Fantasy Road Trip Be Like?
What Crazy Adventure Would You Want to Take?
How Has Travel Affected You?
What Famous Landmarks Have You Visited?
What’s the Coolest Thing You’ve Ever Seen in Nature?
What Are the Best Souvenirs You’ve Ever Collected While Traveling?
Would You Like to Live in Another Country?
Would You Want to Be a Space Tourist?

Looks, Fashion and Health

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2014/01/12/opinion/sunday/goodnight-sleep-clean.html">Related Article</a>

What Does Your Hairstyle Say About You?
How Far Would You Go for Fashion?
What Are the Hot Fashion Trends at Your School Right Now?
Do You Have a Signature Clothing Item?
Has Anyone Ever Said That You Look Like Someone Famous?
Would You Ever Consider Getting a Tattoo?
What Are Your Opinions on Cosmetic Surgery?
Do Photoshopped Images Make You Feel Bad About Your Own Looks?
What Are Your Sleep Habits?
How Much of a Priority Do You Make Sleep?
Do You Get Enough Sleep?
What Health Tips Have Worked for You?

Shopping and Driving

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/us/report-finds-americans-are-driving-less-led-by-youth.html">Related Article</a>

What’s Your Favorite Store? Why?
To What Company Would You Write a Letter of Complaint or Admiration?
To What Business Would You Like to Give Advice?
How Would You Make Over Your Mall?
Do You Shop at Locally Owned Businesses?
What Are the Best Things You’ve Acquired Secondhand?
How Important Is It to Have a Driver’s License?
Are You a Good Driver?

Food and Eating

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/dining/the-best-in-the-box-chocolate-covered-salted-caramels-for-valentines-day.html">Related Article</a>

What Are the Most Memorable Meals You’ve Ever Had?
What’s Your Favorite Holiday Food Memory?
What’s Your Comfort Food?
What Are Your Favorite Junk Foods?
What Food Would You Like to Judge in a Taste-Off?
Do You Prefer Your Tacos ‘Authentic’ or ‘Appropriated’?
Do You Pay Attention to Nutrition Labels on Food?
How Concerned Are You About Where Your Food Comes From?
Are Your Eating Habits Healthy?
What Are Your ‘Food Rules’?
Do You Eat Too Quickly?
What Do You Eat During the School Day?
Do You Eat Cafeteria Food?
How Much Food Does Your Family Waste?
What Messages About Food and Eating Have You Learned From Your Family?
What’s Your Favorite Restaurant?
What Restaurant Would You Most Like to Review?
Do You Cook?
What Would You Most Like to Learn to Cook or Bake?

Holidays, Seasons, Weather and Weekends

<a href="//rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/home-for-the-holidays-or-not-tell-us-your-stories/">Related Article</a><a href="//learning.blogs.nytimes.com/category/student-opinion/"><br /></a>

How Can People Make the Most of Long Holiday Weekends?
What’s Your Sunday Routine?
What’s on Your Fall Fashion Shopping List?
Will You Be Wearing a Halloween Costume This Year?
Do You Like Scary Movies and Books?
Do You Believe in Ghosts?
What Are Your Thanksgiving Traditions?
What Are Your Tips for Enjoying the Holiday Season?
How Will You Spend the Holiday Break?
Do You Make New Year’s Resolutions?
How Do You Fight the Winter Blues?
What Are Your Experiences With Severe Weather?
How Do You Feel About Valentine’s Day?
How Do You Celebrate Spring?
What Would Your Fantasy Spring Break Be Like?
How Careful Are You in the Sun?
What Are You Looking Forward to This Summer?
What Would Your Ideal Summer Camp Be Like?
What Are Your Favorite Summer Hangouts?
What’s Your Favorite Summer Food?
What Is Your Favorite Summer Movie?
Do You Have a Summer Job?
Do You Choose Summer Activities to Look Good on Applications?
What Are the Best Things You Did This Summer?
How Do You Prepare to Go Back to School?

Beliefs, Politics and Current Events

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2013/11/14/health/new-tool-to-ease-difficult-births-a-plastic-bag.html">Related Article</a>

How Would You Like to Help Our World?
What Cause Would Get You Into the Streets?
What Would You Risk Your Life For?
When Have You Spoken Out About Something You Felt Had to Change?
What Would You Invent to Make the World a Better Place?
How Do You Feel About Zoos?
What Is Your Relationship With Guns?
Do You Trust Your Government?
Do You Know Your First Amendment Rights?
Do You Worry About Terrorism?
Do You Believe in Intelligent Alien Life?
Given Unlimited Resources, What Scientific or Medical Problem Would You Investigate?
What Would You Do if You Were President?
Would You Vote This Year if You Could?
Do You Consider Yourself a Republican, Democrat or Independent?
What Event in the Past Do You Wish You Could Have Witnessed?
What Are the Most Important Changes, in Your Life and in the World, in the Last Decade?
What Do You Remember About Sept. 11, 2001?
What News Stories Are You Following?
How Do You Get Your News?
Why Should We Care About Events in Other Parts of the World?
What Questions Do You Have About How the World Works?
What Big Questions Do You Have?

If Only…

<a href="//www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/magazine/outsource-your-way-to-success.html">Related Article</a><a href="//learning.blogs.nytimes.com/category/current-events/"><br /></a>

What Would You Do if You Won the Lottery?
What Superpower Do You Wish You Had?
What Era Do You Wish You Had Lived In?
Would You Want to Be a Tween or Teen Star?
Would You Want to Grow Up in the Public Eye?
What Kind of Robot Would You Want?
What Would You Outsource if You Could?
What Would You Like to Learn on Your Own?
What Would You Wait in Line For?

This resource may be used to address the academic standards listed below.

Common Core E.L.A. Anchor Standards

3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences.

Comments are no longer being accepted.

This is such a fabulous resource for inspiration! Thank you so much for putting this list together. I’ll refer to it often and share it with my readers on my poetry and writing blog.

These are great writing prompts. These remind me of the questions on StoryShelter.com. It’s nice to write there and have all your personal stories in one place where you can share them with friends or post anonymously. Anyone who does narrative or personal writing will find it really useful.

For example, this is how a bunch of people answered the question: “What would you do if you won the lottery?” https://www.storyshelter.com/question/what-if-i-won-the-lottery

Cool, right?

Wonderful list! The topics are thought-provoking and exciting to write. I can go writing on and on, on these topics.

How much do you know about your family history?

I know a little bit about my family history. My grandma talks about our religion sometimes, not every day. So I get to hear some facts about my religion. For example what we do on New Year’s or what happened when I wasn’t born yet. My family history is very interesting.

My mom she is Cambodian and my dad is Thai so I’m mixed Asian. Everybody say that I mostly look like my dad than my mom, and that’s interesting to me.

My dad side of the family, my great great grandma, grandpa and aunts and uncles. They are living in Thailand. I want to go to Thailand really bad. My mom side of the family, my great great grandpa, grandma and my grandma siblings. They are living in Cambodia. My grandma took some pictures in Asia. It looks so different than the United States of America.

So first off, my dad he was born in Thailand and my mom I think she was born in Cambodia. She said that she didn’t went to Cambodia so I really don’t know. So my family (parents, grandparents, aunts and uncle immigrated to the United States of America and became citizens. That time they lived in Stockton, California. I could of live there still. But my dad he went to school in New Hampshire and got a job here and the job over here paid a lot more money than California. So Then my mom side of the family came with my parents, and my dad side of the family stayed in California that was in the 1990s when they moved to New Hampshire. Then they separated, so now we don’t live together anymore.

Now my aunt lives in Massachusetts and my other aunt lives in Rhode Island. So when my parents lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, I wasn’t born yet. But I wish that we still lived in California. So we

My life is interesting to me. I have families in Cambodia and Thailand, and I haven’t met them yet. Also the things we do on New Year’s and other occasions. So that’s what I know about my family history.

Very interesting

OMG!! Where have you been all my life I am very excited about this!!

I wish I was more of a journaler. These are some fantastic prompts for writing personal stories. With 500 listed here, there’s no way you wouldn’t find an inspiring prompt.

I’m more of a fiction writer, and I’ve chosen to write prompts that help fiction writers expand their imagination.

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The Daring English Teacher on Teachers Pay Teachers Secondary ELA resources Middle School ELA High School English

Narrative Writing Prompts to Assign Your Students: 10 Writing Prompts for Narrative Essays

While I am a huge advocate of assigning writing to students at the beginning of the school year , middle school ELA and high school English teachers can assign narrative writing at any point in the year. In this blog post, I’m going to share 10 narrative writing prompts with you!

Teaching students about narrative writing and assigning a narrative writing project helps students work on their creativity, while also focusing on important literary elements. I explain to my students that just like the short stories that we read and analyze in class, they also need to create a setting that enhances the lot. Just like the short stories we read and analyze in class, they also need to fully develop the protagonist and antagonist.

Once students see this connection, they become stronger readers and writers. To help with this concept, my narrative writing teaching unit helps walk students step-by-step throughout the process.

Here are 10 narrative writing prompts to consider using in your classroom.

Personal narrative prompts.

When I choose one of these personal narrative writing prompts, since I teach high school, I also explain to my students that they most likely will be able to use some of what they’ve written for a college admissions essay or scholarship essay.

Write about a time when you worked hard toward accomplishing a goal. Tell the story about the goal, why you set the goal, the steps you took to accomplish the goal, and how you felt once it was accomplished.
Write about the accomplishment you are most proud of. In your narrative, explain your accomplishment, describe why you are most proud of it, and tell the story surrounding it.
Write about a time when you experienced hardship or failure. In your narrative, elaborate on the hardship. Explain the events and your feelings surrounding the hardship or failure, and how you have grown from the experience.
Write about your best childhood memory. In your narrative, tell the story of that memory.
Write about an event from your past that has shaped the person who you are today. In your narrative, tell the story surrounding that event and explain its significance on who you are today.

Fictional Narrative Prompts

Fictional Narrative Writing Prompts for the Secondary ELA Classroom

The day started out like any other. However, as soon as I woke up, I quickly realized…
Two characters explore an area in a field. During their explorations, they find a secret passage, a sort of tunnel to a new dimension. The characters step into the tunnel and are immediately transported to…
Choose your favorite fictional character from any fairy tale or superhero story and write an alternate story for that character.
The clock was tickly so slowly. It seemed as if time was moving backward and now forwards…
Cautiously, she/he/they opened the door and stepped inside. There was no going back now…

Teach Narrative Writing in Your Secondary ELA Classroom

Engage your students in this exciting and comprehensive narrative writing unit! This standards-based narrative writing unit includes materials for both a personal narrative and a fictional narrative and includes everything you need to teach narrative writing to your middle and high school students, including both the print and digital files!

Walk your students step-by-step through the writing process with the materials in this unit. From brainstorming and organizing to peer editing, this narrative writing unit has it all!

Here is what fellow teachers say about this narrative writing unit!

Narrative Writing Prompts for the Secondary ELA Classroom

“This was an excellent resource for narrative writing in my special education class. My students use the Amplify ELA curriculum, but struggle with writing. Our first unit was in writing narratives, so I chose this resource to help break down the parts of their story by focusing on characters, settings, conflict, and planning out the plot separately. The result was more well thought out responses to their prompt. The slideshow for instruction was also well made and easy to read. Thank you!”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Extremely satisfied

“ I used this as part my short story writing unit with my grade eights. It was an excellent way to set up their stories. I wanted to make sure my students really know all parts of their story before sitting down to writing their first draft. This resource really helped them get to know all aspects of their story.”

“ Teaching narrative writing is definitely NOT my strength! However, this resource made it so much easier!! Piecing together our stories by plot elements was so effective in getting my students on the path to creating some awesome stories! I will never teach narrative any other way! This is it!”

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125 Awesomely Clever Narrative Writing Prompts

From the time you learn how to talk, you have stories to tell.

Faced with a classroom writing assignment, though, you can feel the fog rolling in, hiding all your best personal narrative ideas.

To clear that fog, sometimes, all you need are some simple questions to get started, which is why so many of the personal narrative prompts in this post include them.

You’ll find the prompts grouped by theme to make your search for ideas easier.

What Are Narrative Prompts?

Childhood narrative prompts, growing pains narrative prompts, overcoming adversity narrative prompts, parents and family narrative prompts, dating and friendship narrative prompts, food and drink narrative prompts, school or education narrative prompts, jobs and career narrative prompts, morality and religion writing prompts, personality narrative prompts, fun narrative writing prompts, how to use narrative writing prompts to improve your writing.

Narrative prompts get you started telling parts of your own story . You won’t tell it all at once, but what you share in each narrative will answer a question or expand on an idea. And your readers will have a better idea of who you are and how you think.

Here are some possible sources for personal narrative questions:

Dating questions
Relationship questions
Job interview questions
“Never have I ever” questions
“Would you rather” questions

So, if you’re wondering, “What are good personal narrative topics?” think of the questions you’ve been asked that got you writing so quickly your fingers could barely keep up.

The following list should jog some memories and provide new ideas for a personal narrative you’ll be happy to share.

125 Narrative Writing Prompts

Look through each category of prompts for the personal narrative topics that trigger a stream of thoughts in your mind. Jot down your ideas as they come.

What’s your favorite memory from childhood? What impression did it make?

What’s an important memory you only know from others who remember it?

What places from your childhood do you remember most fondly?

Did you have an imaginary friend (or friends)? What were they like?

What was the best gift you remember receiving as a child? Why was it the best?

What were your favorite childhood shows, movies, or games?

typing on laptop at a cafe narrative writing prompts

Did you ever have a moment in the spotlight? What was it, and did you enjoy it?

What people do you remember most fondly, and when did you last see them?

What actor would play you in a movie based on your life, and why?

What objects tell the story of what you were like as a child?

What was your most precious childhood possession, and why?

Have you ever had to deal with a bully? What did you do?

What have you learned from people of different generations or backgrounds?

What do older generations not understand about yours? How is your life different?

What’s your most embarrassing memory from your teenage years?

What’s your proudest memory from your teenage years, and why?

What was the hardest thing about going through puberty?

When was the first time you asked someone out, and how did it go?

When was the first time someone asked you out (or to a dance)? What did you say?

Did you ever try something you wish you hadn’t? What happened?

What did you learn to be grateful for in your teenage years?

What habit/s did you pick up as a teen that helped you along the way?

Have you had to overcome a childhood disease or injury?

Did you lose someone to disease, a tragic accident, or natural causes?

Were you born with a visible, physical challenge that affected your childhood?

Were you born with an invisible health challenge that affected your childhood?

Have you struggled with a mental health challenge that has affected your life ?

Have you had to undergo extensive medical treatment for a health problem?

Have you needed special accommodations in school, work, etc.? Describe them.

Have you experienced discrimination because of gender, race, sexual orientation…?

What are your favorite survival or coping strategies for stress, anxiety, poverty…?

Has financial stress affected your educational, career, or relationship prospects?

What challenges have you overcome? How have you responded to them?

Describe your parents or guardians and their parenting styles?

Describe a favorite memory about growing up with your family?

Are you close to your parents and/or siblings? Are any estranged from you?

What is your racial or ethnic identity, and did your family share that with you?

How have you paid tribute to loved ones you’ve lost?

typing on laptop narrative writing prompts

To which family members did you feel closest growing up? Are you still close?

What hobbies did you pick up from your family? Which do you still have?

How did your family celebrate birthdays or holidays when you were growing up?

If you have in-laws, what is your relationship with them? Are you close with any?

Whom do you trust in your family, and whom do you keep at arm’s length?

Do you talk to your parents (or siblings) about politics or religion? Why or why not?

How, when, and where did you meet your first love ?

How, when, and where did you meet your first BFF and become friends?

Who were your best childhood friends, and what did you do together?

Have you ever wanted a friend to be more than that? Did you tell them?

Have you ever lost a friend who wanted to belong to a popular group?

Have you ever had to put an end to a one-sided friendship?

Have you ever had to break off a relationship with a toxic person?

When have you told a lie of omission, and how did it affect your relationship?

Has anyone ever spread an unkind rumor about you? What did you do about it?

Have you ever been betrayed by a friend or family member?

When was the last date you had that left you thinking, “More, please”?

What were your favorite foods growing up, and how often could you have them?

What did you usually drink at home, and do you still drink them?

What did you like as a child that you don’t like now?

What did you dislike as a child that you like now?

What is a favorite food splurge, and what do you love about it?

How often do you cook for yourself, and what foods do you usually make?

How often do you cook for others, and what’s the best meal you’ve prepared?

Did you have a favorite birthday dinner or celebratory meal growing up?

What place did alcohol have in your family life, and how did that affect you?

What is your favorite baked good, and who makes the best?

When have you changed your food choices based on something you learned?

High School Narrative Writing Lesson plans and other teaching resources

10 Ways to Tell a Story An explanation of 10 different narrative viewpoints with examples.

15 Classified Ads We Hope Had Happy Endings Writing prompt: choose one of these historical ads and construct a narrative that supports it. Include characters, location, and other necessary details. (Teachers may wish to check the ads for appropriateness.)

20 Mystical Bridges That Will Take You To Another World Creative writing prompt: "I walked across the bridge and ..." The photographs of real bridges on this page are astonishingly beautiful. However, the page also carries ads that may not be appropriate for the classroom. Consider copying the photographs into a new file for classroom use.

27 Magical Paths Begging To Be Walked Photographs of beautiful paths all over the world, showing a variety of seasons and geography, just waiting to inspire a poem or serve as the setting for a short story. Note: this page carries ads that may not be appropriate for the classroom. Consider copying the photographs into a new file for classroom use.

500 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing Organized by category.

From Object to Story: Writing a Historical Narrative Featuring an Artifact from One's Family History Students share observations about the history of familial artifacts. They then research the history and cultural significance of selected objects to prepare their own historical narratives. Includes short reading as prewriting activity. Designed for grades 7-12.

Hands, Hands, Hands - Writing a Narrative Essay from the Perspective of a Particular Hand The teacher will show pictures of six hands to students (pictures included with other handouts). After a brainstorming session, students will choose one hand that illustrates a particular story from their life. Then students will write a two page narrative essay about this story. These stories will be posted on a class blog to allow for feedback and discussion from classmates. Designed for grades 7-10.

In Search Of Wisdom: An Interview With An Elder Students develop interview questions, interview someone aged 60 or older, and write a narrative using that person's voice. Designed for grades 6-12.

Incorporating Flashbacks in Narrative Text — The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis Students watch a 2:25 video segment that shows an interview with one of the survivors of the U.S.S. Indianapolis who recalls the sinking of the ship and his survival. Students then create an original narrative that utilizes flashback to tell the survivor's story. This lesson is designed for grades 6-12 and includes links to the downloadable video and all support materials.

Little Red Riding Hood Little Red Riding Hood is now part of an elite group of fairy tale crime scene investigators. You remember Humpty Dumpty? He didn't fall. He was pushed. Or so it seemed at first. This idea will work on multiple grade levels.

Narrative, Argumentative and Informative Writing About Baseball Students compose a one- or two-paragraph scene in which a valuable signed baseball is destroyed. The narrative task is the first of four prompts here. Common Core Standards indicated. Don't miss the extension activity, a video of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" Grades 6-12.

Prewriting Exercises for Personal Narratives Ten activities for personal narrative writing, grades 7-12.

Ten Narrative Writing Prompts Prompts based on student life experiences for high school and college students.

Using Personal Photographs to Spark Narrative Writing The lesson plan asks students to bring in a photograph that has special meaning for them and to write about it. This will work on multiple grade levels.

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Teaching Narrative Writing: 14 Activities to Help Your Students Learn to Love It

Written by Alison Smith

When it comes down to it, narrative writing is basically the art of telling a story. And if there’s one thing that little kids are fond of doing, it’s telling stories … especially the “big fish” kind! But if you’re teaching narrative writing to your class, you know there’s a lot more to it than just being able to spin a wild tale.

Helping your students to develop their narrative writing strategies will take them from story spinners with a lot to say out loud to storytellers who can craft a beautifully written story on the page.

But how do you actually do that? Let’s dig in!

How Do You Teach Narrative Writing?

Narrative writing is one of the four major types of writing we expect from our students — along with argumentative (or opinion) writing, expository, and informative writing.

Perhaps the most important aspect of teaching narrative writing is nurturing a love of storytelling, along with helping your students to understand narrative writing structure and organization, and how to develop the story by adding details.

Naturally, teaching narrative writing differs by grade level with the kindergarten through second-grade learning largely through read-alouds and exposure to narrative writing examples, while older elementary schoolers will spend more time putting pencil to paper (or fingertips to keyboard) writing their stories. We’ll break down a few ways to teach each age and stage!

But before we do that, a quick reminder:

What Are the Five Rules of Narrative Writing?

Eventually, your students will get to a stage where the rules of writing will be a little less important, but we have to start somewhere! So call these the rules of narrative writing or the five elements of narrative writing. Either way — every story should have a:

Character(s)

Activities for Teaching Narrative Writing

Sowing the seeds for successful narrative story writing starts as early as pre-k or kindergarten.

Read Mentor Texts

Sure, your students may not be ready to write out their full thoughts, but the read-alouds you do in the classroom are an important part of introducing narrative story writing examples they can build off in their future education.

Here are some of our favorite children’s books to introduce the concept:

Ralph Tells a Story by Abby Hanlon
Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall
My Dog Mouse by Eva Lindstrom

Use Story Prompt Handwriting Worksheets

Help your kindergarten and first-grade students develop their handwriting skills by recounting a story based on prompts they can trace and then add to! Bonus: This resource is free!

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Teach the 5Ws (and 1H)

Help your students build out the structure of their storytelling with the basics — the 5ws (and that pesky 1 H ):

What happened?
Who is it about?
Where did it take place?
When did it take place?
Why did it happen?
How did it happen?

Scaffold with Storybooks

After teaching your students the vocabulary of narrative writing, use storybooks as narrative writing examples they can use to identify the different elements of the story. To make it easier, provide a template like this cute story spine porcupine so they can identify the process that the author used to build out a story, sequencing the events one by one.

porcupine narrative writing template printable with student writing

You can also use the template as a scaffold when students write their own story — with 8 steps accompanied by easy-to-follow sentence starters, your students will have planned their writing in full before they know it!

Try Guided Writing Activities

Guided writing is a brilliant narrative writing activity. Working in a small group with teacher guidance helps students to build confidence and to be active participants in discussions about writing.

Guided writing is very similar to guided reading in the classroom. Students work in small differentiated groups and work towards a similar writing goal. Guided writing sessions are usually 20-25 minutes long and are generally broken down into the following framework:

Direct instruction, where the teacher reminds the students of their writing goals and provides them with some form of writing stimulus (approximately 5 minutes).
Shared experience, where the students and teacher have a rich conversation about the writing topic and/or writing stimulus, key vocabulary, and the possible text types that could be written (approximately 5 minutes).
Independent writing and sharing, where students write as much as they can in the allocated time. The teacher provides timely feedback and scaffolds key writing skills. Students then share what they have written with the small group or the rest of the class (approximately 10 minutes).

Direct Instruction

Research shows that students need direct instruction that includes the I do (teacher modeling), we do ( guided practice), and you do (independent practice). Teaching narrative writing is no exception to this rule, and it’s critical to include a balance of modeled, guided, and independent writing.

A big part of direct teaching instruction is making the lesson objectives clear. Narrative writing is a complex task and so it is important to focus on one thing at a time and to make the success criteria clear. For example, if your lesson focus is narrative structure, don’t stress about the spelling.

Set Up a Writing Station

Take the fear out of writing, and set up a free writing station. Provide students with paper, blank comic strips, blank postcards, greeting cards, pictures cut out of magazines, pens, pencils, sticky notes, or whatever else inspires your students to put pencil to paper.

To make the writing station effective as a skill-building activity:

Acknowledge and praise all writing as a masterpiece
Avoid correcting the spelling, punctuation, and grammar used in free writing tasks
Make time for your students to use the writing station
Avoid making it a fast finisher activity, as the students who need it most are likely to miss out

Use a Writer’s Notebook

Encourage your students to keep a Writer’s Notebook to jot down new ideas for narrative writing.

How to Set Up a Writer’s Notebook Daily Routine

Each student needs their own notebook. Allow students to create a cover for their notebook, or you can provide them with this Writer’s Notebook Cover Page which they can decorate. Introduce the concept to your class, ensuring they understand the notebook will not be graded, but will instead be used daily as a place for them to play with ideas and words. This Writer’s Notebook Poem by Ralph Fletcher is great to stick in the front of their notebooks as a reminder of the book’s purpose. Provide students with Writer’s Notebook Writing Prompt Cards (these are optional) Dedicate at least 5 minutes every day to your students’ Writer’s Notebooks, providing specific activities or allowing free writing time.

Create a Writer’s Prop Table

Picture a small table in your classroom, scattered with a collection of objects such as a key, a padlock, a candle, a map, or a train ticket, and your imagination will be popping with ideas for a narrative. Before you know it, your students will be looking for objects to add to the collection and planting seeds for their next narrative.

Slow Down and Break It Up!

For incredible writing outcomes, break down the main parts of a narrative text type. Spend a significant amount of time on each structural element. Think of it as laying one brick at a time. Ask your students to write a complete narrative only when they have secure knowledge, understanding, and experience of writing an orientation, complication, resolution, and ending.

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A great activity to teach the structure of narrative writing is to deconstruct a text by cutting it up and sticking it back together! Given that it’s not ideal to cut up books, we have created a sorting task to reinforce the structural features of a narrative text. Your students can play surgeon, dissecting the text and putting it all back together again!

Sizzling Starts

Do your students fall into the trap of writing orientations that begin with One day…, On Monday, Once upon a time…?

If your mission is to change this, believe me when I say that students need to see it to believe it.

Read amazing story openings, the more the better. I love the sizzling start to How to Bee by Bren MacDibble…

Today! It’s here! Bright and real and waiting. The knowing of it bursts into my head so big and sudden, like a crack of morning sun bursting through the gap at the top of the door…

Once you’ve given your students the opportunity to read, watch and experience the impact of amazing sizzling starts, show your students a Narrative Plot Structure Diagram to demonstrate how a great narrative often starts with action!

Sentence Starter Roll Call

Select a Narrative Sentence Starter Card , and display or write it on the whiteboard. Ask your students to think of an imaginative way to finish the sentence, (the sillier the better).

Provide your students with a little thinking time. Ask each student to share their response when you call their name. This is sure to get a few giggles!

TEACHER: Jonah, I found a strange package at the door… JONAH: …it turned into a robot who helped me to fly to the moon

Round Robin Storytelling

Have you ever tried a round-robin story with your class? It’s great fun and a perfect warm-up at the beginning of a writing lesson and is a brilliant way to develop speaking and listening skills.

Arrange your students in a circle. The teacher joins the circle.
Start the round-robin by reading aloud one of the Narrative Sentence Starter Cards.
Moving in a clockwise direction, ask the next person to continue the story.
The teacher finishes off the story when it returns to the starting point.

Be mindful of less confident learners and the support that they need during this activity.

Shared Writing

Shared writing is a crucial part of teaching narrative writing. This effective teaching strategy (whereby the teacher models writing while being given ideas and direction from the students), is ideal to use with the whole class or in a small group.

Try our Picture Writing Prompts Widget as a stimulus for shared writing. Each image comes with writing prompts ideas, Five Ws and One H questions and suggested activities.

Tips for leading shared writing sessions

Focus your shared writing session on one or two elements of narrative writing. For example, focus on text structure, ideas, characters. and setting or vocabulary.
Keep it short. This will depend on the year level of your class. 10 -15 minutes is an awesome effort. As a general rule, as soon as you notice that your students are disengaged, call it a day, until tomorrow!
Model how to write a narrative using a plan. In fact, model how to write a plan! Show your students the art of referring to the plan on a regular basis.
Use Think, Pair, Share and Elbow Partners , to encourage ideas and discussion.
Inspire your students and stimulate ideas through the use of visual prompts, props, and feely bags.
Make it fun and do it often.

For more useful ideas on how to use writing prompts in the classroom, don’t miss our blog 5 Ways to Spark Imagination in the Classroom Using Writing Prompts .

What are your favorite ways to teach narrative writing? Try our extensive collection of narrative writing resources !

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20 Prompts for Narrative Writing That Spark Creativity

Using prompts for narrative writing motivates kids and gets them excited to write. Read on to learn more about narrative writing, mentor texts, ideas, and assessments. Plus you will find 20 fun prompts for narrative and personal narrative writing. These will be sure to spark student’s creativity and imagination!

What’s Narrative Writing?

Narrative writing tells a story using a beginning, middle, and end. It includes elements such as characters, setting, problem, and solution. The author’s purpose is usually to entertain or teach a lesson. Narrative writing can be fact or fiction but the process is the same. When it’s a real story from the author’s life, it is considered a personal narrative.

Examples for Narrative Writing

There are so many wonderful examples of narrative writing. Some are even written as personal narratives. Below you will find a list of mentor texts for elementary school. It’s helpful to immerse students in the genre before and during a narrative writing unit. These books model different strategies that kids can try in their writing.

Narrative Writing Mentor Texts:

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
Come on, Rain! by Karen Hesse
Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts
Fireflies! by Julie Brinckloe
Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall
Enemy Pie by Derek Munson
Blackout by John Rocco

Narrative Writing Teaching

There are many features to include in narrative writing, but it depends on the grade level being taught. For the lower grades, it’s important to start with the concept of beginning, middle, and end written in sequential order. Then you can expand to the introduction, body, and conclusion using details. Other important elements are character, setting, problem, and solution. As the student’s abilities increase the number of sentences will grow and expand to paragraphs.

For the older grades, you can introduce plot structure. It follows the beginning, middle, and end format but on a higher level. This story arc includes exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Use the diagram below to see how these features overlap.

Plot Structure

Topics for Narrative Writing

The possibilities are endless when it comes to narrative writing ideas. Kids can create a fiction piece or write about an experience in their life. Check out some writing prompt ideas below for narrative and personal narrative writing. You might also like this blog post about opinion writing prompts: 20 Prompts for Opinion Writing That Motivate Kids

Writing Prompts for Narratives

I was taking my friend’s picture in front of the volcano when all of a sudden . . .
What if you were given 3 wishes but couldn’t use them on yourself. Tell a story about what you would wish for and why.
Write a story called, “The Luckiest Day of My Life.”
Imagine you went to the zoo and could take home any animal for the day. Tell a story about your time together.
Write a silly story that uses these words: airplane, grapes, elephant, and book.
You have just been shrunk down to the size of an ant. Write a story including the good and bad things about being so small.
Think about your favorite character from a book. Tell a story about getting to meet them for the first time.
What would happen if you lived during a time when there was no electricity? Write a story about your school day.
Finish this story: The pirates set sail on their ship in search of . . .
Suppose you were teacher for a day. Write a story about the changes you would make.

Writing Prompts for Personal Narratives

Have you ever been so proud of yourself for learning something new? Write a story about a time this happened.
Write a story about a time you felt your heart race. What happened and how were you feeling at the end?
What was your most memorable vacation? Tell a story from part of that trip and why it stands out in your mind.
Have you ever done something you knew would get you in big trouble? Write a story about a time this happened and how you felt about it.
Write a story about the strangest thing that has ever happened to you. Why was it so unusual?
What was your most memorable moment from this year? Write a story telling why it’s so special.
Tell a story about a time when you were so excited and couldn’t wait for an event to happen.
Write a small moment story about a time you had with your favorite person.
Write about a time that you lost something important. Tell whether or not you found it.
Think about the worst day you ever had. What made it so terrible and did it get better by the end?

Rubrics for Narrative Writing

I often hear from teachers that one of the most difficult parts of teaching writing is how to assess it. Assessments should be accurate and helpful for both the student and teacher. When it comes to narrative writing, there are many different approaches. Some teachers prefer to do a more informal assessment for daily writing pieces and then a formal assessment for the final copy. Informal assessments can be completed with written comments or student-teacher conferences.

It would be very difficult to use a rubric for every narrative writing a student completes in their notebook. Instead, most teachers prefer to choose one to three writing pieces to assess with a rubric. These assessments are ideal for benchmarks, progress reports, and report cards. Below you will find three types of narrative writing rubrics. Check out this blog post to learn more about student-friendly, teacher-friendly, and time-saving rubrics: 3 Types of Writing Rubrics for Effective Assessments

Narrative writing enables kids to be creative and use their imagination. They can write a fiction story or about a real event from their life. Writing prompts are a helpful tool to get kids engaged and ready to get started. Did you grab your Free Writing Prompt Guide yet? I love using prompts for morning work, writing time, centers, or as a homework assignment. The possibilities are endless! Be sure to try these prompts for narrative writing with your students!

Genre Based Prompts

20 Prompts for Opinion Writing That Motivate Kids
What is Narrative Writing
A Complete Guide to Narrative Writing
Personal Narrative Writing for Elementary School
Narrative Writing: How to Teach a Story Arc That’s as Exciting as a Roller Coaster

Angela Sutton

Monthly Writing Prompts to Engage Students and Make Writing Fun

Informational Writing: Teaching All About Books

4 types of sentences: declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory

4 Types of Sentences: Definitions, Examples, and Fun Activities

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A Step-by-Step Plan for Teaching Narrative Writing

July 29, 2018

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“Those who tell the stories rule the world.” This proverb, attributed to the Hopi Indians, is one I wish I’d known a long time ago, because I would have used it when teaching my students the craft of storytelling. With a well-told story we can help a person see things in an entirely new way. We can forge new relationships and strengthen the ones we already have. We can change a law, inspire a movement, make people care fiercely about things they’d never given a passing thought.

But when we study storytelling with our students, we forget all that. Or at least I did. When my students asked why we read novels and stories, and why we wrote personal narratives and fiction, my defense was pretty lame: I probably said something about the importance of having a shared body of knowledge, or about the enjoyment of losing yourself in a book, or about the benefits of having writing skills in general.

I forgot to talk about the power of story. I didn’t bother to tell them that the ability to tell a captivating story is one of the things that makes human beings extraordinary. It’s how we connect to each other. It’s something to celebrate, to study, to perfect. If we’re going to talk about how to teach students to write stories, we should start by thinking about why we tell stories at all . If we can pass that on to our students, then we will be going beyond a school assignment; we will be doing something transcendent.

Now. How do we get them to write those stories? I’m going to share the process I used for teaching narrative writing. I used this process with middle school students, but it would work with most age groups.

A Note About Form: Personal Narrative or Short Story?

When teaching narrative writing, many teachers separate personal narratives from short stories. In my own classroom, I tended to avoid having my students write short stories because personal narratives were more accessible. I could usually get students to write about something that really happened, while it was more challenging to get them to make something up from scratch.

In the “real” world of writers, though, the main thing that separates memoir from fiction is labeling: A writer might base a novel heavily on personal experiences, but write it all in third person and change the names of characters to protect the identities of people in real life. Another writer might create a short story in first person that reads like a personal narrative, but is entirely fictional. Just last weekend my husband and I watched the movie Lion and were glued to the screen the whole time, knowing it was based on a true story. James Frey’s book A Million Little Pieces sold millions of copies as a memoir but was later found to contain more than a little bit of fiction. Then there are unique books like Curtis Sittenfeld’s brilliant novel American Wife , based heavily on the early life of Laura Bush but written in first person, with fictional names and settings, and labeled as a work of fiction. The line between fact and fiction has always been really, really blurry, but the common thread running through all of it is good storytelling.

With that in mind, the process for teaching narrative writing can be exactly the same for writing personal narratives or short stories; it’s the same skill set. So if you think your students can handle the freedom, you might decide to let them choose personal narrative or fiction for a narrative writing assignment, or simply tell them that whether the story is true doesn’t matter, as long as they are telling a good story and they are not trying to pass off a fictional story as fact.

Here are some examples of what that kind of flexibility could allow:

A student might tell a true story from their own experience, but write it as if it were a fiction piece, with fictional characters, in third person.
A student might create a completely fictional story, but tell it in first person, which would give it the same feel as a personal narrative.
A student might tell a true story that happened to someone else, but write it in first person, as if they were that person. For example, I could write about my grandmother’s experience of getting lost as a child, but I might write it in her voice.

If we aren’t too restrictive about what we call these pieces, and we talk about different possibilities with our students, we can end up with lots of interesting outcomes. Meanwhile, we’re still teaching students the craft of narrative writing.

A Note About Process: Write With Your Students

One of the most powerful techniques I used as a writing teacher was to do my students’ writing assignments with them. I would start my own draft at the same time as they did, composing “live” on the classroom projector, and doing a lot of thinking out loud so they could see all the decisions a writer has to make.

The most helpful parts for them to observe were the early drafting stage, where I just scratched out whatever came to me in messy, run-on sentences, and the revision stage, where I crossed things out, rearranged, and made tons of notes on my writing. I have seen over and over again how witnessing that process can really help to unlock a student’s understanding of how writing actually gets made.

A Narrative Writing Unit Plan

Before I get into these steps, I should note that there is no one right way to teach narrative writing, and plenty of accomplished teachers are doing it differently and getting great results. This just happens to be a process that has worked for me.

Step 1: Show Students That Stories Are Everywhere

Getting our students to tell stories should be easy. They hear and tell stories all the time. But when they actually have to put words on paper, they forget their storytelling abilities: They can’t think of a topic. They omit relevant details, but go on and on about irrelevant ones. Their dialogue is bland. They can’t figure out how to start. They can’t figure out how to end.

So the first step in getting good narrative writing from students is to help them see that they are already telling stories every day . They gather at lockers to talk about that thing that happened over the weekend. They sit at lunch and describe an argument they had with a sibling. Without even thinking about it, they begin sentences with “This one time…” and launch into stories about their earlier childhood experiences. Students are natural storytellers; learning how to do it well on paper is simply a matter of studying good models, then imitating what those writers do.

So start off the unit by getting students to tell their stories. In journal quick-writes, think-pair-shares, or by playing a game like Concentric Circles , prompt them to tell some of their own brief stories: A time they were embarrassed. A time they lost something. A time they didn’t get to do something they really wanted to do. By telling their own short anecdotes, they will grow more comfortable and confident in their storytelling abilities. They will also be generating a list of topic ideas. And by listening to the stories of their classmates, they will be adding onto that list and remembering more of their own stories.

And remember to tell some of your own. Besides being a good way to bond with students, sharing your stories will help them see more possibilities for the ones they can tell.

Step 2: Study the Structure of a Story

Now that students have a good library of their own personal stories pulled into short-term memory, shift your focus to a more formal study of what a story looks like.

Use a diagram to show students a typical story arc like the one below. Then, using a simple story (try a video like The Present or Room ), fill out the story arc with the components from that story. Once students have seen this story mapped out, have them try it with another one, like a story you’ve read in class, a whole novel, or another short video.

Step 3: Introduce the Assignment

Up to this point, students have been immersed in storytelling. Now give them specific instructions for what they are going to do. Share your assignment rubric so they understand the criteria that will be used to evaluate them; it should be ready and transparent right from the beginning of the unit. As always, I recommend using a single point rubric for this.

Step 4: Read Models

Once the parameters of the assignment have been explained, have students read at least one model story, a mentor text that exemplifies the qualities you’re looking for. This should be a story on a topic your students can kind of relate to, something they could see themselves writing. For my narrative writing unit (see the end of this post), I wrote a story called “Frog” about a 13-year-old girl who finally gets to stay home alone, then finds a frog in her house and gets completely freaked out, which basically ruins the fun she was planning for the night.

They will be reading this model as writers, looking at how the author shaped the text for a purpose, so that they can use those same strategies in their own writing. Have them look at your rubric and find places in the model that illustrate the qualities listed in the rubric. Then have them complete a story arc for the model so they can see the underlying structure.

Ideally, your students will have already read lots of different stories to look to as models. If that isn’t the case, this list of narrative texts recommended by Cult of Pedagogy followers on Twitter would be a good place to browse for titles that might be right for your students. Keep in mind that we have not read most of these stories, so be sure to read them first before adopting them for classroom use.

Step 5: Story Mapping

At this point, students will need to decide what they are going to write about. If they are stuck for a topic, have them just pick something they can write about, even if it’s not the most captivating story in the world. A skilled writer could tell a great story about deciding what to have for lunch. If they are using the skills of narrative writing, the topic isn’t as important as the execution.

Have students complete a basic story arc for their chosen topic using a diagram like the one below. This will help them make sure that they actually have a story to tell, with an identifiable problem, a sequence of events that build to a climax, and some kind of resolution, where something is different by the end. Again, if you are writing with your students, this would be an important step to model for them with your own story-in-progress.

Step 6: Quick Drafts

Now, have students get their chosen story down on paper as quickly as possible: This could be basically a long paragraph that would read almost like a summary, but it would contain all the major parts of the story. Model this step with your own story, so they can see that you are not shooting for perfection in any way. What you want is a working draft, a starting point, something to build on for later, rather than a blank page (or screen) to stare at.

Step 7: Plan the Pacing

Now that the story has been born in raw form, students can begin to shape it. This would be a good time for a lesson on pacing, where students look at how writers expand some moments to create drama and shrink other moments so that the story doesn’t drag. Creating a diagram like the one below forces a writer to decide how much space to devote to all of the events in the story.

Step 8: Long Drafts

With a good plan in hand, students can now slow down and write a proper draft, expanding the sections of their story that they plan to really draw out and adding in more of the details that they left out in the quick draft.

Step 9: Workshop

Once students have a decent rough draft—something that has a basic beginning, middle, and end, with some discernible rising action, a climax of some kind, and a resolution, you’re ready to shift into full-on workshop mode. I would do this for at least a week: Start class with a short mini-lesson on some aspect of narrative writing craft, then give students the rest of the period to write, conference with you, and collaborate with their peers. During that time, they should focus some of their attention on applying the skill they learned in the mini-lesson to their drafts, so they will improve a little bit every day.

Topics for mini-lessons can include:

How to weave exposition into your story so you don’t give readers an “information dump”
How to carefully select dialogue to create good scenes, rather than quoting everything in a conversation
How to punctuate and format dialogue so that it imitates the natural flow of a conversation
How to describe things using sensory details and figurative language; also, what to describe…students too often give lots of irrelevant detail
How to choose precise nouns and vivid verbs, use a variety of sentence lengths and structures, and add transitional words, phrases, and features to help the reader follow along
How to start, end, and title a story

Step 10: Final Revisions and Edits

As the unit nears its end, students should be shifting away from revision , in which they alter the content of a piece, toward editing , where they make smaller changes to the mechanics of the writing. Make sure students understand the difference between the two: They should not be correcting each other’s spelling and punctuation in the early stages of this process, when the focus should be on shaping a better story.

One of the most effective strategies for revision and editing is to have students read their stories out loud. In the early stages, this will reveal places where information is missing or things get confusing. Later, more read-alouds will help them immediately find missing words, unintentional repetitions, and sentences that just “sound weird.” So get your students to read their work out loud frequently. It also helps to print stories on paper: For some reason, seeing the words in print helps us notice things we didn’t see on the screen.

To get the most from peer review, where students read and comment on each other’s work, more modeling from you is essential: Pull up a sample piece of writing and show students how to give specific feedback that helps, rather than simply writing “good detail” or “needs more detail,” the two comments I saw exchanged most often on students’ peer-reviewed papers.

Step 11: Final Copies and Publication

Once revision and peer review are done, students will hand in their final copies. If you don’t want to get stuck with 100-plus papers to grade, consider using Catlin Tucker’s station rotation model , which keeps all the grading in class. And when you do return stories with your own feedback, try using Kristy Louden’s delayed grade strategy , where students don’t see their final grade until they have read your written feedback.

Beyond the standard hand-in-for-a-grade, consider other ways to have students publish their stories. Here are some options:

Stories could be published as individual pages on a collaborative website or blog.
Students could create illustrated e-books out of their stories.
Students could create a slideshow to accompany their stories and record them as digital storytelling videos. This could be done with a tool like Screencastify or Screencast-O-Matic .

So this is what worked for me. If you’ve struggled to get good stories from your students, try some or all of these techniques next time. I think you’ll find that all of your students have some pretty interesting stories to tell. Helping them tell their stories well is a gift that will serve them for many years after they leave your classroom. ♦

Want this unit ready-made?

If you’re a writing teacher in grades 7-12 and you’d like a classroom-ready unit like the one described above, including slideshow mini-lessons on 14 areas of narrative craft, a sample narrative piece, editable rubrics, and other supplemental materials to guide students through every stage of the process, take a look at my Narrative Writing unit . Just click on the image below and you’ll be taken to a page where you can read more and see a detailed preview of what’s included.

What to Read Next

Categories: Instruction , Podcast

Tags: English language arts , Grades 6-8 , Grades 9-12 , teaching strategies

52 Comments

Wow, this is a wonderful guide! If my English teachers had taught this way, I’m sure I would have enjoyed narrative writing instead of dreading it. I’ll be able to use many of these suggestions when writing my blog! BrP

Lst year I was so discouraged because the short stories looked like the quick drafts described in this article. I thought I had totally failed until I read this and realized I did not fai,l I just needed to complete the process. Thank you!

I feel like you jumped in my head and connected my thoughts. I appreciate the time you took to stop and look closely at form. I really believe that student-writers should see all dimensions of narrative writing and be able to live in whichever style and voice they want for their work.

Can’t thank you enough for this. So well curated that one can just follow it blindly and ace at teaching it. Thanks again!

Great post! I especially liked your comments about reminding kids about the power of storytelling. My favourite podcasts and posts from you are always about how to do things in the classroom and I appreciate the research you do.

On a side note, the ice breakers are really handy. My kids know each other really well (rural community), and can tune out pretty quickly if there is nothing new to learn about their peers, but they like the games (and can remember where we stopped last time weeks later). I’ve started changing them up with ‘life questions’, so the editable version is great!

I love writing with my students and loved this podcast! A fun extension to this narrative is to challenge students to write another story about the same event, but use the perspective of another “character” from the story. Books like Wonder (R.J. Palacio) and Wanderer (Sharon Creech) can model the concept for students.

Thank you for your great efforts to reveal the practical writing strategies in layered details. As English is not my first language, I need listen to your podcast and read the text repeatedly so to fully understand. It’s worthy of the time for some great post like yours. I love sharing so I send the link to my English practice group that it can benefit more. I hope I could be able to give you some feedback later on.

Thank you for helping me get to know better especially the techniques in writing narrative text. Im an English teacher for 5years but have little knowledge on writing. I hope you could feature techniques in writing news and fearute story. God bless and more power!

Thank you for this! I am very interested in teaching a unit on personal narrative and this was an extremely helpful breakdown. As a current student teacher I am still unsure how to approach breaking down the structures of different genres of writing in a way that is helpful for me students but not too restrictive. The story mapping tools you provided really allowed me to think about this in a new way. Writing is such a powerful way to experience the world and more than anything I want my students to realize its power. Stories are how we make sense of the world and as an English teacher I feel obligated to give my students access to this particular skill.

The power of story is unfathomable. There’s this NGO in India doing some great work in harnessing the power of storytelling and plots to brighten children’s lives and enlighten them with true knowledge. Check out Katha India here: http://bit.ly/KathaIndia

Thank you so much for this. I did not go to college to become a writing professor, but due to restructuring in my department, I indeed am! This is a wonderful guide that I will use when teaching the narrative essay. I wonder if you have a similar guide for other modes such as descriptive, process, argument, etc.?

Hey Melanie, Jenn does have another guide on writing! Check out A Step-by-Step Plan for Teaching Argumentative Writing .

Hi, I am also wondering if there is a similar guide for descriptive writing in particular?

Hey Melanie, unfortunately Jenn doesn’t currently have a guide for descriptive writing. She’s always working on projects though, so she may get around to writing a unit like this in the future. You can always check her Teachers Pay Teachers page for an up-to-date list of materials she has available. Thanks!

I want to write about the new character in my area

That’s great! Let us know if you need any supports during your writing process!

I absolutely adore this unit plan. I teach freshmen English at a low-income high school and wanted to find something to help my students find their voice. It is not often that I borrow material, but I borrowed and adapted all of it in the order that it is presented! It is cohesive, understandable, and fun. Thank you!!

So glad to hear this, Nicole!

Thanks sharing this post. My students often get confused between personal narratives and short stories. Whenever I ask them to write a short story, she share their own experiences and add a bit of fiction in it to make it interesting.

Thank you! My students have loved this so far. I do have a question as to where the “Frog” story mentioned in Step 4 is. I could really use it! Thanks again.

This is great to hear, Emily! In Step 4, Jenn mentions that she wrote the “Frog” story for her narrative writing unit . Just scroll down the bottom of the post and you’ll see a link to the unit.

I also cannot find the link to the short story “Frog”– any chance someone can send it or we can repost it?

This story was written for Jenn’s narrative writing unit. You can find a link to this unit in Step 4 or at the bottom of the article. Hope this helps.

I cannot find the frog story mentioned. Could you please send the link.? Thank you

Hi Michelle,

The Frog story was written for Jenn’s narrative writing unit. There’s a link to this unit in Step 4 and at the bottom of the article.

Debbie- thanks for you reply… but there is no link to the story in step 4 or at the bottom of the page….

Hey Shawn, the frog story is part of Jenn’s narrative writing unit, which is available on her Teachers Pay Teachers site. The link Debbie is referring to at the bottom of this post will take you to her narrative writing unit and you would have to purchase that to gain access to the frog story. I hope this clears things up.

Thank you so much for this resource! I’m a high school English teacher, and am currently teaching creative writing for the first time. I really do value your blog, podcast, and other resources, so I’m excited to use this unit. I’m a cyber school teacher, so clear, organized layout is important; and I spend a lot of time making sure my content is visually accessible for my students to process. Thanks for creating resources that are easy for us teachers to process and use.

Do you have a lesson for Informative writing?

Hey Cari, Jenn has another unit on argumentative writing , but doesn’t have one yet on informative writing. She may develop one in the future so check back in sometime.

I had the same question. Informational writing is so difficult to have a good strong unit in when you have so many different text structures to meet and need text-dependent writing tasks.

Creating an informational writing unit is still on Jenn’s long list of projects to get to, but in the meantime, if you haven’t already, check out When We All Teach Text Structures, Everyone Wins . It might help you out!

This is a great lesson! It would be helpful to see a finished draft of the frog narrative arc. Students’ greatest challenge is transferring their ideas from the planner to a full draft. To see a full sample of how this arc was transformed into a complete narrative draft would be a powerful learning tool.

Hi Stacey! Jenn goes into more depth with the “Frog” lesson in her narrative writing unit – this is where you can find a sample of what a completed story arc might look. Also included is a draft of the narrative. If interested in checking out the unit and seeing a preview, just scroll down to the bottom of the post and click on the image. Hope this helps!

Helped me learn for an entrance exam thanks very much

Is the narrative writing lesson you talk about in https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/narrative-writing/

Also doable for elementary students you think, and if to what levels?

Love your work, Sincerely, Zanyar

Hey Zanyar,

It’s possible the unit would work with 4th and 5th graders, but Jenn definitely wouldn’t recommend going any younger. The main reason for this is that some of the mini-lessons in the unit could be challenging for students who are still concrete thinkers. You’d likely need to do some adjusting and scaffolding which could extend the unit beyond the 3 weeks. Having said that, I taught 1st grade and found the steps of the writing process, as described in the post, to be very similar. Of course learning targets/standards were different, but the process itself can be applied to any grade level (modeling writing, using mentor texts to study how stories work, planning the structure of the story, drafting, elaborating, etc.) Hope this helps!

This has made my life so much easier. After teaching in different schools systems, from the American, to British to IB, one needs to identify the anchor standards and concepts, that are common between all these systems, to build well balanced thematic units. Just reading these steps gave me the guidance I needed to satisfy both the conceptual framework the schools ask for and the standards-based practice. Thank you Thank you.

Would this work for teaching a first grader about narrative writing? I am also looking for a great book to use as a model for narrative writing. Veggie Monster is being used by his teacher and he isn’t connecting with this book in the least bit, so it isn’t having a positive impact. My fear is he will associate this with writing and I don’t want a negative association connected to such a beautiful process and experience. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thank you for any information you can provide!

Although I think the materials in the actual narrative writing unit are really too advanced for a first grader, the general process that’s described in the blog post can still work really well.

I’m sorry your child isn’t connecting with The Night of the Veggie Monster. Try to keep in mind that the main reason this is used as a mentor text is because it models how a small moment story can be told in a big way. It’s filled with all kinds of wonderful text features that impact the meaning of the story – dialogue, description, bold text, speech bubbles, changes in text size, ellipses, zoomed in images, text placement, text shape, etc. All of these things will become mini-lessons throughout the unit. But there are lots of other wonderful mentor texts that your child might enjoy. My suggestion for an early writer, is to look for a small moment text, similar in structure, that zooms in on a problem that a first grader can relate to. In addition to the mentor texts that I found in this article , you might also want to check out Knuffle Bunny, Kitten’s First Full Moon, When Sophie Gets Angry Really Really Angry, and Whistle for Willie. Hope this helps!

I saw this on Pinterest the other day while searching for examples of narritives units/lessons. I clicked on it because I always click on C.o.P stuff 🙂 And I wasn’t disapointed. I was intrigued by the connection of narratives to humanity–even if a student doesn’t identify as a writer, he/she certainly is human, right? I really liked this. THIS clicked with me.

A few days after I read the P.o.C post, I ventured on to YouTube for more ideas to help guide me with my 8th graders’ narrative writing this coming spring. And there was a TEDx video titled, “The Power of Personal Narrative” by J. Christan Jensen. I immediately remembered the line from the article above that associated storytelling with “power” and how it sets humans apart and if introduced and taught as such, it can be “extraordinary.”

I watched the video and to the suprise of my expectations, it was FANTASTIC. Between Jennifer’s post and the TEDx video ignited within me some major motivation and excitement to begin this unit.

Thanks for sharing this with us! So glad that Jenn’s post paired with another text gave you some motivation and excitement. I’ll be sure to pass this on to Jenn!

Thank you very much for this really helpful post! I really love the idea of helping our students understand that storytelling is powerful and then go on to teach them how to harness that power. That is the essence of teaching literature or writing at any level. However, I’m a little worried about telling students that whether a piece of writing is fact or fiction does not matter. It in fact matters a lot precisely because storytelling is powerful. Narratives can shape people’s views and get their emotions involved which would, in turn, motivate them to act on a certain matter, whether for good or for bad. A fictional narrative that is passed as factual could cause a lot of damage in the real world. I believe we should. I can see how helping students focus on writing the story rather than the truth of it all could help refine the needed skills without distractions. Nevertheless, would it not be prudent to teach our students to not just harness the power of storytelling but refrain from misusing it by pushing false narratives as factual? It is true that in reality, memoirs pass as factual while novels do as fictional while the opposite may be true for both cases. I am not too worried about novels passing as fictional. On the other hand, fictional narratives masquerading as factual are disconcerting and part of a phenomenon that needs to be fought against, not enhanced or condoned in education. This is especially true because memoirs are often used by powerful people to write/re-write history. I would really like to hear your opinion on this. Thanks a lot for a great post and a lot of helpful resources!

Thank you so much for this. Jenn and I had a chance to chat and we can see where you’re coming from. Jenn never meant to suggest that a person should pass off a piece of fictional writing as a true story. Good stories can be true, completely fictional, or based on a true story that’s mixed with some fiction – that part doesn’t really matter. However, what does matter is how a student labels their story. We think that could have been stated more clearly in the post , so Jenn decided to add a bit about this at the end of the 3rd paragraph in the section “A Note About Form: Personal Narrative or Short Story?” Thanks again for bringing this to our attention!

You have no idea how much your page has helped me in so many ways. I am currently in my teaching credential program and there are times that I feel lost due to a lack of experience in the classroom. I’m so glad I came across your page! Thank you for sharing!

Thanks so much for letting us know-this means a whole lot!

No, we’re sorry. Jenn actually gets this question fairly often. It’s something she considered doing at one point, but because she has so many other projects she’s working on, she’s just not gotten to it.

I couldn’t find the story

Hi, Duraiya. The “Frog” story is part of Jenn’s narrative writing unit, which is available on her Teachers Pay Teachers site. The link at the bottom of this post will take you to her narrative writing unit, which you can purchase to gain access to the story. I hope this helps!

I am using this step-by-step plan to help me teach personal narrative story writing. I wanted to show the Coca-Cola story, but the link says the video is not available. Do you have a new link or can you tell me the name of the story so I can find it?

Thank you for putting this together.

Hi Corri, sorry about that. The Coca-Cola commercial disappeared, so Jenn just updated the post with links to two videos with good stories. Hope this helps!

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by Michelle Boyd Waters, M.Ed.

13 Narrative Writing Prompts For Secondary Students

September 29, 2015 in Pedagogy

A few years ago, I tried to show a documentary about the Titanic sinking to a classroom full of 7th graders on the last day before a holiday. Big mistake! While the students are fascinated by the Titanic, they found the documentary incredibly boring. My team leader and I ended up having to show them a movie instead. A few days later, we started reading a story about the Titanic and the students loved it. They also told me that they loved the three-hour-long Titanic movie staring Kate Winslet and Leonard DiCaprio. I found the juxtaposition of their responses to the documenary verses the movie fascinating — and telling. so I asked them what the difference was between the two. Why was the documentary so boring, but the movie would hold their interest for three hours.

One student responded with gusto: “Because it’s a loooove story!”

What she didn’t know is that her response to the story has a basis in science: We are wired to enjoy stories .

Since most people have a built-in. scientifically-proven predilection for stories for dry facts, it’s very important that students learn to tell a good yarn. The best way to learn how to tell good stories, much like learning how to ice skate without falling on your backside, is to practice.

So I am sharing below a few writing prompts you can give to your students, so they’ll have plenty of opportunity to exercise their writing muscles.

Narrative writing prompts

Think about something that happened to you that you’ll never forget. Write about what happened, who was involved and where it happened. Make sure you capture what makes that event hard to forget.
Think about a memorable event that happened when you were in elementary school. Write a story describing what happened, who was involved, and where it took place. Be sure to capture the importance of the event.
You are on your way home when zombies begin to take over your town. You’ve never believed in zombies, but now you see them with your own eyes. Write a science fiction story telling what the zombies do, what happens to everyone you know, and what you do about it. Make sure you create and describe characters, conflict, and the setting.
Pretend that your favorite character has stepped out of the pages of a book, or out of your television, and into real life. Write a story about what happens that day.
Weather affects people in different ways around the globe. Think about a time when the weather has had a significant impact on your life. Write a story sharing your experience.
Write about a time that you surprised someone. Write a story sharing how you planned the surprise, and what happened, being careful to build suspense so that the reader is surprised, too.
Think about a time when you embarked on a journey to reach a personal goal. Tell your story, being sure to include the challenges you faced, what might have prevented you from reaching your goal, and how you were transformed by the journey.
Think about a time when you stood up for what you believed in. Be sure to set share with your reader what the situation was like, what happened when you stood your ground, and what happened as a result.
Imagine that you wake up tomorrow morning and discover that you’ve been transported into your favorite novel or movie. Write a story telling what happens during the one day you live with those characters.
Imagine that you are the last person left on the earth. There is a knock at the door…
Choose a super power and then write a story about how you would change the world.
Think about a time when you didn’t know what to say — until it was too late. Retell your story the way you wish it had happened.
Tell a story about your favorite person. Make sure you describe that person’s character traits, and tell a story that illustrates why they are your favorite.

Need prompts in multiple writing modes for every day of the school year? Check out 180+ Days of Quickwrites !

Related topics: Narrative Writing , Quickwriting , Teaching Writing

About the author

Michelle Boyd Waters, M.Ed.

I am a secondary English Language Arts teacher, a University of Oklahoma student working on my doctorate in Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum with an concentration in English Education and co-Editor of the Oklahoma English Journal. I am constantly seeking ways to amplify students' voices and choices.

I’m excited for my 7th grader I know he will be experiencing and exploring new ideas new friends and of course new boundaries… writing and legible handwriting has been a struggle for him in grade school I really enjoyed reading through this website it makes writing seem less intimidating and giving confidence on having that successful paper/story ..I am hoping it will give him a new outlook on how fun as well as important writing can be. Thank you very much I am excited to share this site with him. Its perfect for discouraging writers as I once was going through school!!!

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15 Inspiring Personal Narrative Examples for Writers

Reveal a part of yourself in your essay.

Students start writing personal narratives at a young age, learning to use descriptive language to tell a story about their own experiences. Try sharing these personal narrative examples for elementary, middle, and high school to help them understand this essay form.

What is a personal narrative?

Think of a narrative essay like telling a story. Use descriptive language, and be sure you have a beginning, middle, and end. The essay should recount your personal experiences, including your thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Learn more about personal narrative essays here:

What Is Narrative Writing, and How Do I Teach It in the Classroom?
Engaging Personal Narrative Ideas for Kids and Teens
Best Mentor Texts for Narrative Writing in Elementary School

Elementary School Personal Narrative Examples

In elementary school, personal narratives might be quite short, just a paragraph or two. The key is to encourage kids to embrace a personal style of writing, one that speaks in their own voice. Take a look at these elementary school personal narrative essay examples for inspiration.

The Horrible Day

“next i fell asleep in my cereal and my brother stole my toast”—anonymous student.

In this short personal narrative written by a 2nd grader, the author describes a bad day with lots of details and an informal tone. It’s a great model for your youngest writers.

Read the full essay: The Horrible Day at Thoughtful Learning

Keep an Eye on the Sky!

“as we made our way out to the field, my stomach slowly turned into a giant knot of fear.” —anonymous student.

Any student who dreads gym class will connect with this essay, which turns a challenge into a triumph. This narrative from Time for Kids is annotated, with highlighted details and tips to help kids write their own essay.

Read the full essay: Keep an Eye on the Sky! at Time for Kids

Grandpa, Chaz, and Me

“i really miss grandpa, and so does my brother, even though he never met him.” —cody, 4th grade student.

Written by a 4th grader, this essay relates the author’s loss of a grandfather at a very young age. Using simple, personal language, they tell a compelling story in a few short paragraphs.

Read the full essay: Grandpa, Chaz, and Me at Thoughtful Learning

Surviving an Embarrassing Situation

“i had made the shot in the wrong basket, giving the green shirts the win” —anonymous student.

Personal narratives tell a story, with a beginning, middle, and end. This annotated essay outlines those parts, making it easier for young writers to do the same in their own writing.

Read the full essay: Surviving an Embarrassing Situation at Sopris West Educational Services

“Do you have a friend who loves you?” —Kendra, 4th grade student

Writing about friends gives writers the chance to describe someone’s physical characteristics and personality. This 4th grade essay uses personal details to bring a beloved friend to life.

Read the full essay: Ann at Thoughtful Learning

Middle School Personal Narrative Examples

By middle school, personal narratives are longer and more involved, telling more detailed stories and experiences. These middle school personal narrative essay examples model strong writing skills for this age group.

“As thoughts of certain death run through my mind, the world appears a precious, treasured place.” —Amy, student

Describing an opportunity to overcome your worst fears makes an excellent personal narrative topic. The vivid descriptions of the landscape and the author’s feelings help the reader make a strong connection to the author.

Read the full essay: The Climb at Thoughtful Learning

The Best Friend Question

“i’ve often wondered, does not having a best friend make me defective” —blanche li, age 13, diablo vista middle school, danville, california.

When her Spanish teacher asked students for an essay describing their best friend, 13-year-old Blanche Li fell back on her standard story: that of a made-up person. Here, she explains why she made up “Haley” and wonders what having an imaginary best friend says about her.

Read the full essay: The Best Friend Question at The New York Times

The Racist Warehouse

“i didn’t know racism was still around; i thought that situation had died along with dr. king.” —alicia, 8th grade student.

Strong personal narratives often relate the way the author learned an important life lesson. Here, an 8th grader describes her first experience with racism, in an essay that will sadly ring true with many readers.

Read the full essay: The Racist Warehouse at Thoughtful Teaching

“For the first time, we realized that we didn’t know how to express our voice, and we always suppressed it.” —Jocelyn C., 7th grade student, Texas

Seventh-grader Jocelyn C. describes the unique experience of spending two years living in an RV with her family, traveling the country. She relates the ups and downs of their trip, illustrating the way her family learned to live together in close quarters and embrace the adventure.

Read the full essay: RV Journey at Write From the Heart

An Eight Pound Rival

“i’m trying to accept that he didn’t mean to dominate the center stage all the time, that’s just one of the many lovable assets of his personality.”.

A new sibling can change everything in a family, especially when you’ve always been the baby. This middle schooler explains her challenging relationship with a little brother that she loves, even when he drives her a bit crazy. (Find this essay on page 42 at the link.)

Read the full essay: An Eight Pound Rival at Teaching That Makes Sense

High School Personal Narrative Examples

High school students have more complex stories to tell, though they’re sometimes reluctant to do so. Reading personal narrative essay examples like these can encourage them to open up and get their thoughts, feelings, and ideas down on the page.

Sorry, Wrong Number

“when i received the first text, i was a playful sixth grader, always finding sly ways to be subversive in school and with friends.” —michelle ahn, high school student.

When Michelle Ahn was 11, she started getting texts for a wrong number, a man named Jared. Rather than correcting the error, she spends the next few years occasionally engaging with his texters as “Jared,” learning more about him. Though she finally comes clean, her time as “Jared” exposes her to a way of life very different from her own, and opens her eyes to the inner lives of others.

Read the full essay: Sorry, Wrong Number at The New York Times

Caught in the Net

“little does everyone else know how often i’m not doing school research or paper writing; instead i’m aimlessly writing emails or chatting with internet friends and family hundreds of miles away.” —kim, college student.

Even before social media and smartphones swept the world, internet addiction had become a problem. Here, a student shares her experiences in AOL chat rooms, meeting people from around the globe. Eventually, she realizes she’s sacrificing life in the real world for her digital friends and experiences, and works to find the right balance.

Read the full essay: Caught in the Net at Thoughtful Learning

Nothing Extraordinary

“an uneasy feeling started to settle in my chest. i tried to push it out, but once it took root it refused to be yanked up and tossed away.” —jeniffer kim, high school student.

During an ordinary shopping trip, high schooler Jenniffer Kim suddenly realizes she’s ashamed of her mother. At the same time, she recognizes all the sacrifices her mom has made for her, and gladly takes the chance to make a tiny sacrifice of her own.

Read the full essay: Nothing Extraordinary at The New York Times

The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

“at this point in life, i had not yet learned to be gentle with myself, or others.” —anonymous student.

A teen who lives with bipolar disorder recounts a difficult conversation with her parents, in which her mother dismisses her as “crazy.” A few years later, this same teen finds herself in the emergency room, where her mother has just tried to die by suicide. “Crazy!” the daughter thinks. After her mother also receives a bipolar disorder diagnosis, the author concludes, “‘Crazy’ is a term devised to dismiss people.”

Read the full essay: The Pot Calling the Kettle Black at Pressbooks

What a Black Woman Wishes Her Adoptive White Parents Knew

“i know that i am different, but do not have the words to understand how.” —mariama lockington.

Though not written by a high schooler, this essay by Mariama Lockington makes an excellent mentor text for this age group. Lockington dives deep into her feelings about being adopted by parents of a different race, and shares her challenges in poignant language that speaks directly to the reader.

Read the full essay: What a Black Woman Wishes Her Adoptive White Parents Knew at Buzzfeed News

Do you use personal narrative examples as mentor texts in your classroom? Come share your experiences and ask for advice in the We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Facebook !

Plus, strong persuasive writing examples (essays, speeches, ads, and more) ..

Find stirring personal narrative examples for elementary, middle school, and high school students on an array of topics.

65 Engaging Personal Narrative Ideas for Kids and Teens

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50 Fun Prompt Writing Ideas for High School Students

May 16, 2023

Students either love or hate writing. Those who love it usually are the ones who enjoy reading as well. They might spend their time journaling, composing poetry, or writing short stories. These students not only enjoy the process; they embrace it with every part of their being and enjoy engaging in assigned prompt writing ideas!

For most students, however, writing is synonymous with drudgery. They hear that they are going to have to write something, and they automatically shut down. Because of this unfortunate mindset usually brought about by the feeling of overwhelm, we need to get our students to see the value of high school writing activities that include easy-to-teach Prompt Writing Ideas.

There are so many options beyond the traditional five-paragraph essay! Keep reading for 50 Prompt Writing Ideas for High School Students !

Need help with Test Prep? Check out this FREE Pack of 3 Test Prep Activities to help students achieve success on standardized tests

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50 Prompt Writing Ideas for High School Students

10 Narrative Prompt Writing Ideas

Before starting my business, I didn’t really see the value of writing stories. I mean, I enjoy a good story. I love reading short stories by Edgar Allan Poe , some of William Shakespeare’s plays , and other random historical fiction. Beyond personal entertainment or academia, I could not really see why teaching narrative writing was so important.

Boy, was I wrong!

Narrative writing is so valuable. Think about it. When we buy something, we really want to hear the story behind it.

We listen to how something was created, how a person struggled with a problem, and how a product provided a solution! We connect with each other through stories!

Here are some relatively simple ways to incorporate narrative writing in your high school classroom with 10 Prompt Writing Ideas:

Write a Journal Entry- Students can respond to someone from a story as if they know the character personally.
Create an Advertisement- Students can include a story from a “buyer” as an ad technique.
Informational/Argument Essays- Students can use a short narrative as support.
Post on Social Media- Students can create a post that tells a story about something…anything!
Develop a Business Plan- Students can create a business plan and use narratives to relay the potential of a future business.
Write a Poem/Song- Students can write a poem or song that actually tells a story.
Create a Website- Students can create an About Me page for a fictitious online store that includes a story.
Participate in a Job Interview- Students can conduct interviews with each other and include stories that demonstrate certain skills or knowledge.
Give a Speech- Students can do research on an idea they are passionate about and include stories to support their ideas.
Record a Video- Students can write and record stories about their lives and “post” them on various platforms.

10 Satirical Prompt Writing Ideas

When it comes to bridging the gap between reading satire and writing satire , students need guidance. I would start by reading both “Sending Grandma to the Ovens” and “A Modest Proposal.” These two texts are similar in structure, purpose, and topic. Your students can model their own essays after these texts. They can even propose something!

Here are some HOW TO satirical prompt writing ideas :

How to be a wonderful boyfriend or girlfriend
How to propose to someone
How to be a good student
How to be a productive employee
How to grow a business
How to be an amazing parent
How to be an effective writer
How to prepare for exams
How to get a job
How to create friendships

10 Expository Prompt Writing Ideas

Essentially, an exposition seeks to explain something. And things in our world ALWAYS need explaining!

We crave information, and one of my major goals as a teacher is to encourage students to seek out information instead of what just pops up on social media feeds. We have so much knowledge, it can be overwhelming, so giving students a focus would be super helpful.

When writing an exposition, students have several options:

They can write about what they already know, write about what they don’t know by doing research, or write about a combination of the two.

Need help with teaching research? Click below!

Here are some expository prompt writing ideas that might require a bit of research:

Interesting hobbies I never knew about
Skills I will need for life
Getting a job interview
Jobs that we take for granted
Things to do when we don’t have electricity
What I never knew about my family
Popular foods in…(a culture/country)
Why certain songs are popular
Uses for a cell phone
History of chocolate

10 Argument Prompt Writing Ideas

One of the toughest types of writing involving prompt writing ideas for students is the argument essay. Now, I am talking about the “you need to do research to make your case” kind of argument paper.

Let’s be real. Instead of doing the research ourselves, we rely on one or two news outlets to tell us information, or maybe, God forbid, we scroll through social media to get our information.

And I don’t know about you. I usually just get an interpretation or opinion on the facts. I don’t get the actual stories, statistics, and facts. I get, at most, a watered-down version of what I should actually know.

This reality is why we MUST teach our students how to support their ideas with cited evidence. We don’t need to teach students merely to argue. They do this beautifully with their friends on a daily basis. They need to know how to locate credible evidence, and I am not just talking .gov, .org, or .edu! This requirement of credibility applies to pretty much any prompt writing ideas!

Here are some argument prompt writing ideas that will REQUIRE research:

Should student loans be forgiven?
Should everyone go to college?
Should social media companies be allowed to censor content?
Should students have to take higher-level math?
Should high school or college students be required to take a financial literacy course?
Should students take a gap year before going to college?
Should there be a minimum wage?
Should students earn grades in their classes (A, B, C, D, F)?
Should classes be organized by age or ability in a specific subject area?
Should volunteer hours be required for graduation?

Notice: You don’t have to ask students to write a ten-page argument paper in order to feel like your students are learning what they need to know to be successful. You could start with a page, a paragraph, a discussion, or even a 1-minute presentation. Not everything has to be formal in the introductory stage. Sometimes, we want to get our students thinking about the topic and excited before they begin!

10 Rhetorical Analysis Prompts

I am a big fan of requiring students to practice writing a rhetorical analysis essay . At first, it can be daunting. Even the word “rhetoric” can be difficult to explain at times.

Most of the Prompt Writing Ideas below can be used or revised to fit any piece of rhetoric:

How does the speaker use logos in achieving the purpose of the speech?
What techniques are used by the author to relay the message that_____?
How does the writer include emotional language in order to appeal to the audience?
Why is repetition used throughout the passage?
What forms of evidence support the rhetor’s argument?
How are the rhetorical appeals used in relation to the audience’s perspective?
Why might the tone of the speaker change throughout the text?
What kinds of strategies are used in online ads versus physical ads?
How might you use different techniques when talking with your parents/guardians versus your friends?
What types of diction and/or syntax might a creator use when discussing a topic in college?

If you go step by step through the analysis writing process, your students can master this skill. It might take more time than you think, but most students will achieve some level of success. Plus, they can apply these skills to any essay they will have to write in the future! You can teach How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis Essay Step By Step !

teach how to write a rhetorical analysis essay

By modeling what you want, you will more likely get what you want from your students. This process also applies to writing a rhetorical analysis essay. Going through every step above is key to success.

Here are some reading and writing packs that may make the rhetorical analysis essay process that much easier:

Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God Rhetorical Analysis Pack
A Modest Proposal Rhetorical Analysis Pack
The Declaration of Independence: Rhetorical Analysis Writing Pack
Gettysburg Address Activities: Rhetorical Analysis Short Response
Declaration of Sentiments Rhetorical Devices Analysis Activity Stanton
Sojourner Truth Speech Aint I a Woman: Summary, Rhetorical Analysis
Patrick Henry’s Give Me Liberty Give Me Death Speech Rhetorical Analysis Pack
Florence Kelley Speech About Child Labor Rhetorical Analysis Pack
Sending Grandma to the Ovens Rhetorical Analysis Pack

Need more Prompt Writing Ideas for your middle or high school classroom ? Check out my store Kristin Menke-Integrated ELA Test Prep !

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Teach Creative Writing In High School With 10 Fun Activities

Creative writing is a meaningful aspect of literature that mandates you to utilize your expertise, ingenuity, and story to depict a critical message, emotion, or plot. It defies the traditional bounds of other forms of writing and is completely subjective to our preferences and experiences. In creative writing, it’s all about imaginativeness!

Using creative imagination and originality to convey feelings and concepts in a unique way is at the heart of creative writing. Simply stated, it’s about infusing your own ‘flair’ into your writing, moving beyond academic or other technical kinds of literature.

In this post, we will explore the various activities which would be advantageous for a high schooler who wishes to indulge in creative writing!

What Happens When Creative Writing Is Put To Use?

Creative writing is any form of writing that deviates from traditional professional, investigative journalism, educational, or technological forms of literature. It is typically distinguished by emphasizing narrative craft, character development, literary tropes, or various poetic traditions.

Here are the few ways how high schoolers can benefit from creative writing –

1. Imagination

When you write creatively, you expand your imagination by creating new environments, scenarios, and characters. This way, you are also boosting and stretching your imagination, as well as “thinking out of the box.” This allows you to concentrate your energy on many other things and improve your ability to find fresh ideas and alternatives to problems you’re having. Whether you’re a researcher or a businessman, creative writing will increase your imagination and help you think more creatively, and push the boundaries.

2. Empathy and Communications skills

When you create characters, you’ll be constructing emotions, personalities, behaviors, and world views that are distinct from your own. Writers must conceive personalities, emotions, places, and walks of life outside of their own lives while creating universes with fictional characters and settings.

This can give children a good dose of empathy and understanding for those who aren’t like them, who don’t live where they do or go through the same things they do daily. Writers are better equipped to communicate when they have a greater understanding of other points of view. They can come up with creative ways to explain and debate subjects from multiple perspectives. This ability is crucial in both professional and personal situations.

3. Clarification of Thoughts

Creating structures in creative writing allows you to organize your impressions and emotions into a logical procedure. You may express both your thoughts and your sentiments through creative writing. For example, if you’re a marketing executive, you could create a short tale in which your clientele reads your promotional emails. You can guess what they’re up to, where they’re seated, what’s around them, and so on.

This enables you to focus on the language and strategies you employ. Alternatively, if you’re a technical writer writing on a new desktop platform, you could create a creative scenario in which a user encounters a problem.

4. Broadens Vocabulary and gets a better understanding of reading and writing

You’ll learn a larger vocabulary and a better understanding of the mechanics of reading and writing as you begin to practice writing exercises regularly. Even if you’re writing a budget report, you’ll know when rigid grammar standards work and when they don’t, and you’ll know what will make your writing flow better for your readers. Exploring different ways of expressing yourself when writing creatively allows you to extend your vocabulary.

You’ll notice a change in your use and range of language as you improve your writing over time, which will be useful in any professional route and social scenario. You’ll be able to bend and break the rules when you need to, to utilize your voice and make what you’re writing engaging without coming off as an amateur, dull, or inauthentic once you’ve grasped the fundamentals of writing professionally and creatively.

5. Building Self-Belief

When you write creatively, you’re actively involved in an activity that allows you to fully develop your voice and point of view without being constrained. You have a better chance to investigate and express your feelings about various issues, opinions, ideas, and characters. And you’ll feel more at ease and secure stating your thoughts and perspectives in other things you write as a result of this.

Writers who don’t write creatively may be concerned about appearing authoritative or trustworthy. They accidentally lose their voice and sound like drones spouting statistics by omitting to include their perspective on the topics they’re writing about. As a result, they miss out on using their distinct voice and presenting themselves as an expert with real-world expertise.

Creative Writing Activities That Will Strengthen Your Writing Skills

Short spurts of spontaneous writing make up creative writing activities. These writing exercises push a writer to tackle a familiar topic in a new way, ranging from one line to a lengthy tale. Short, spontaneous projects are common in creative writing programs, but any writer should make them a regular practice to extend their abilities and learn new tactics to approach a series of stories.

These activities must be performed for ten minutes at a time, several times a week – by creative writers. They’re designed to help you improve your writing abilities, generate fresh story ideas, and become a better writer.

1. Free Writing

Writing is the first and foremost activity that is going to give your creative writing a boost. Start with a blank page and let your stream of thoughts and emotions flow. Then simply begin writing. Don’t pause to think or alter what you’re expressing. This is known as “free writing.” This writing activity is referred to as “morning pages” by Julia Cameron, the author of ‘The Artist’s Way.’ She recommends that authors do this every day when they first wake up. Stream of consciousness writing can provide some intriguing concepts.

Allow your intellect to take the lead as your fingers type. Or write a letter to your younger self. Consider a topic you’d like to discuss, such as a noteworthy event, and write it down. Give guidance or convey a message that you wish you had heard as a youngster or a young adult.

2. Modify a Storyline – Read

Most of us like to read. However, just reading won’t really help augment your creative writing skills. While reading bestows insight into the deeper meanings of numerous things, you need a more concrete approach to better your aptitude. To do this, you can modify any storyline. Take an episode from a chapter, if you’re feeling brave—from one of your favorite books and recreate it. Write it from the perspective of a different character. Swap out the main character in this exercise to examine how the story may be conveyed differently.

Take Percy Jackson’s thrilling conclusion, for instance, and rework it with Annabeth as the primary character. Another way to approach this creative activity is to keep the primary character but switch viewpoints. Rewrite a scene in the third person if the writer has told a story in the first person.

3. Add Creative Writing Prompts or Create Flash Fiction

Use writing prompts, often known as narrative starters, to produce writing ideas. A writing prompt is a sentence or short excerpt that a writer uses to start composing a story on the spot. You can look up writing prompts online, pick a sentence out of a magazine at random, or use a brilliant line from a well-known work as the start of your short scene.

Another thing you can do to accentuate your writing is to create flash fiction. Sit down at your desktop or pick up a pen and paper and write a 500-word story on the spur of the moment. This isn’t the same as just writing whatever comes to mind. With no fixed guidelines, free writing generates a stream of consciousness. All of the basic components of a story arc, such as plot, conflict, and character development, are required in flash fiction, albeit in a shortened form.

4. Create a Fictitious Advertisement

Pick a random word from a nearby book or newspaper and create a fictitious commercial for it. Write one ad in a formal, abbreviated newspaper classified format to require you to pay special attention to your word choice to sell the item. Then write one for an online marketplace that allows for longer, more casual text, such as Craigslist. Describe the item and persuade the reader to purchase it in each one.

5. Engage in Conversations

Engaging in conversations with your friends/family – or simply communicating can help brush up your writing skills. Talk to your loved ones about their hobbies, career, views on societal issues – any suitable topic for that matter. This helps implement others’ points of view and expands your mental ability. Another useful thing that you can do is – make another person’s tale and create it by implementing your own thoughts. Then talk about it in an impeccable manner. Also, talk in complete sentences. This goes to show your Linguistic intelligence proficiency – and helps augment your creative writing skills.

6. Create Your Own Website/Blog

Start your search for blogging. There are a million writing suggestions out there, but they all boil down to the same thing: write. Blogging is excellent writing practice because it gives you a place to write regularly.

To keep your fingers and mind nimble, write a post every day. Like most bloggers, you’ll want to restrict your subject—perhaps you’ll focus on parenting or start a how-to site where you can tell stories from your point of view.

7. Participate in Debates/Extempores

Participating in debates, extempores – anchoring for your school function, giving a speech, all of these activities help boost your creative spirit. These group events make you understand what other people are envisioning, which in turn helps you generate new ideas, approaches, and methods. Not only do they improve your articulation and research skills, but they also develop critical thinking and emotional control abilities. All of these promote a better creative writing aptitude.

8. Start a YouTube Channel or Podcast

Starting a YouTube channel or podcast will definitely level up your creative game. YouTube is a never-ending platform, covering myriads of topics. Choose a particular niche for your channel.

Then do your topic research, create content, manage SEO, approach brands, talk to clients and influencers – do all the good stuff. Communicating with other influencers and creating content will take your creative writing skills to another level. Starting a podcast will have a similar impact.

9. Love them? Say it with your words!

We have many festivals, occasions, birthdays, parties, anniversaries and whatnot! You can employ these special days and boost your creative writing skills. You can make a token of love for them – writing about your feelings. You can also make gift cards, birthday cards, dinner menus, and so on. So let’s say, it’s your mother’s birthday, you can write her a token of love, elucidating your feelings and letting her know what all she’s done for you and that you’re grateful. Do this for all your near and dear ones. This not only spreads positivity and love but helps you develop your creative aptitude.

10. The What-if Game

The What-If game is an incredible way to upgrade your creative abilities. You can play this game with your friends, cousins, relatives, or solo. Here, you need to find links to many interesting hypothetical questions. For instance, what if the sun doesn’t rise for a week? What if there’s no oxygen for one minute? Play it with your peeps, or ask these questions to yourself. It can be anything random but concrete. If you don’t know the answers to the questions, look them up on Google. This way, you’re training your mind to learn new concepts all the while enhancing your visualization process.

We can conclude that creative writing encourages students to think creatively, use their imaginations, imply alternatives, expand their thinking processes, and improve their problem-solving skills. It also allows the child to express themselves and grow their voice. Besides, it enhances reasoning abilities. The principle behind the creative writing concept is that everyone can gain the qualities that are needed to become a successful writer or, rather become good at writing. Creative writing is all about using language in new and innovative ways.

Sananda Bhattacharya, Chief Editor of TheHighSchooler, is dedicated to enhancing operations and growth. With degrees in Literature and Asian Studies from Presidency University, Kolkata, she leverages her educational and innovative background to shape TheHighSchooler into a pivotal resource hub. Providing valuable insights, practical activities, and guidance on school life, graduation, scholarships, and more, Sananda’s leadership enriches the journey of high school students.

Explore a plethora of invaluable resources and insights tailored for high schoolers at TheHighSchooler, under the guidance of Sananda Bhattacharya’s expertise. You can follow her on Linkedin

Top 7 Narrative Writing Exercises for Students

What are the essential narrative writing skills?

Narrative writing demands a lot from our students. It requires them not just to come up with a story worth telling but also to develop the necessary skills to make that story come alive through the written word.

No mean feat when we consider the diverse challenges of creating a compelling narrative within the two dimensions of the printed word.

In this article, we’ll look at some of the most important skills your students will require to excel in narrative writing .

We’ll look at each of these skills in turn.

First, we’ll explore why each skill is important for narrative writing ability.

Then, we’ll suggest an activity or two you can use in the classroom to help your students develop each specific skill.

Narrative writing Skills covered:

Reading Widely
Believable Characters
Cause and Effect
Effective Dialogue
Ending Well

A COMPLETE UNIT ON TEACHING NARRATIVE WRITING

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Teach your students to become skilled story writers with this HUGE NARRATIVE & CREATIVE STORY WRITING UNIT . Offering a COMPLETE SOLUTION to teaching students how to craft CREATIVE CHARACTERS, SUPERB SETTINGS, and PERFECT PLOTS .

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Engaging students in narrative writing exercises offers a myriad of educational and developmental benefits. Firstly, these exercises cultivate creativity by encouraging students to explore their imagination and construct compelling stories. The process of inventing characters, designing plots, and crafting settings foster a creative mindset that extends beyond the confines of writing, influencing problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

Moreover, narrative writing exercises enhance language proficiency. Students refine their vocabulary, experiment with sentence structure, and learn to express complex ideas coherently. As they construct narratives, students naturally improve their communication skills, both written and verbal.

Narrative Writing Skill 1: Reading Widely

This may seem a strange place to start. This article’s about writing skills after all.

Our students’ first experience of the written word is usually through reading. It is through reading well-written texts that they first begin to absorb the rules of language and structure.

After a time, they begin to apply some of the knowledge gained from their reading into their own early attempts at independent writing.

From the early focus on using phonics to decode unfamiliar words to building a diverse and expressive vocabulary, reading is where students begin to develop their writing chops. It’s where they see how it’s done.

Not only can students absorb some of the craft of narrative writing by reading fiction, but reading nonfiction can also serve to enhance their narrative writing too.

Reading nonfiction books helps students to understand the world around them.

This, in turn, helps them to create more plausible fictional worlds as they fill it with details and knowledge drawn from their nonfiction reading.

Suggested Narrative Writing Exercises:

There are many reading strategies to help students to develop higher-level reading skills that will inform their writing of narratives.

It’s impossible to cover everything here, but there are several comprehensive articles on this site-directed specifically at helping students to develop their reading comprehension skills.

However, one simple strategy you can use to assess student understanding of any text is The Retell strategy.

In The Retell , you simply ask the student to retell the story they have just read in their own words.

Obviously, students can’t be expected to recall the entirety of something they’ve read word for word.

Asking them to retell the story forces them to reconstruct the events from memory, put them in order, and express them in their own words. Something they’ll only be able to do if they’ve understood what they’ve read.

Narrative Writing Skill 2: Believable Characters

One of the most common failings, when our students write stories, is to people their fictional worlds with flat characters.

You know the types (or stereotypes!) – A square-jawed hunk who can do no wrong, alongside the helpless damsel in distress waiting to be saved.

Save for writing fairy stories and the like, our students should strive to create believable characters that seem to live and breathe inside the pages of their stories.

To do this effectively our students need to do the following 2 things:

● Create a Backstory

It may not be necessary to share the backstory with their readers, but students should have at least some idea about their main characters’ lives before the events of their narrative.

The backstory goes beyond the details of a physical description. It allows the writer to explore the character’s goals, motivations, and beliefs.

Suggested Narrative Writing Activity:

A simple way to explore a character’s backstory is to have the student write a short biography on the character’s life.

This needn’t be extensive. It could just be in the form of bullet points, for example. The aim here is to provide some depth to the character.

Another effective way to bring depth to a character is for the student to base them on someone famous or someone they know personally.

● Make Characters Complex

The problem with the impeccable hero or defenseless damsel caricatures is that they don’t correspond to what we know of people in real life.

In real life, we are more than a single characteristic.

In one context we can display characteristics of bravery, while another situation may have our knees knocking.

Real people are complex, flawed, and even contradictory at times.

The simplest way to create complex characters is to make them flawed.

One way to do this is to give them a vice. This won’t necessarily make the character unlikeable by the reader, instead, it will give the character room for growth.

For this activity, organize the students into groups and ask them to list as many vices as they can e.g. arrogance, envy, anger, etc.

Then, challenge the students to come up with various scenarios where these vices can be turned into virtues.

For example, a young girl is very lazy. Her mother gets sick and needs expensive medical treatment. The young girl loves her mother very much. The young girl begins to work very hard. Through a series of ups and downs, she becomes very successful and wealthy and helps her mother.

Now we’ve got the beginnings of a story!

Narrative Writing Skill 3: Cause & Effect

To avoid a meandering storyline that rambles aimlessly, students should plan out their narrative before they begin.

The essential elements of a story to consider include:

Rising Action
Falling Action

A story is a series of events connected by cause and effect. It is this cause and effect that gives meaning to a story. Readers need to know why each event occurs and how it relates to previous events.

A good way to practice cause and effect is to play And Then What?

For this game, organize students into pairs and suggest simple scenarios to them.

For example, A man stands under a tree. He is pacing up and down nervously. He glances at his watch every few seconds.

One student answers the question, “And then what?” by describing what happens next.

When they’ve finished describing the next event, they then ask their partner, “And then what?”.

They repeat this until they’ve worked through the problem, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

Narrative Writing Skill 4: Effective Dialogue

Dialogue can be a fantastic tool and students should learn to use it well.

Beyond the mechanics of structure and punctuation, dialogue should do 3 things:

● Move the story forward

● Reveal character

● Help the reader understand the relationships between characters.

If dialogue doesn’t achieve these 3 things, then it will need revising or deleting entirely.

A common mistake made in dialogue writing is that it goes on too long.

Often, students enjoy writing dialogue but if it is poorly written the reader won’t experience the same level of enjoyment in the reading of it.

To ensure the dialogue is tightly written, students should avoid small talk in their dialogue.

They should also eliminate pointless, long-drawn-out greetings and leave-takings between characters.

They need to get to the point quickly in their dialogue so as not to bore their reader.

It’s also important for students to avoid using dialogue as a means of info-dumping . That is, the Show, Don’t Tell rule is still in effect in dialogue.

Students should avoid the “As you know…” style of crow-barring exposition into the conversation. This makes dialogue sound awkward and unrealistic – this isn’t how people speak.

Dialogue can certainly be used to reveal backstory and character but it must be done subtly.

An excellent way for students to assess how authentic their dialogue sounds is for them to read it aloud when they have finished.

Students should pay attention to how their dialogue feels in their mouths when they speak the words.

Do the words come easily or are they stumbling over phrases?

Real speech is natural and flows. If this isn’t the case, things need to be looked at again.

Narrative Writing Skill 5: Tension

Tension in a story is what maintains the reader’s interest and keeps them reading right to the end.

Tension is all about anticipation. It causes an emotional response in the reader as they’re drawn into the lives of the characters and become invested in the outcomes of the story’s plot .

There are several ways students can create tension in their stories, these include:

Create characters with conflicting goals
Raise the stakes for the main character
Give the reader more information than the main character
Create questions in the reader’s mind.

The ticking clock is one-way that tension can be injected into a story. This is where a story’s timeline is compressed by some sort of deadline.

An excellent twist on the ticking clock idea can be seen in the 90’s movie Speed , where Keanu Reeves’ character must maintain a speed above 50 miles per hour to prevent a booby-trapped bus from exploding.

Organize students into groups for this activity. Challenge them to come up with story scenarios that employ a ticking clock strategy to build tension.

Narrative Writing Skill 6: Themes

Well-developed themes help the reader to derive meaning from a story. Unlike in most nonfiction text types, in fiction writing themes are usually stated implicitly.

For students to develop themes in their narrative writing, they’ll first need to secure a firm knowledge of what exactly a theme is.

Theme simply refers to the central idea or main topic that is explored in a story.

Common themes for stories include love, revenge, good vs. evil, redemption, courage, and coming of age.

Students will first need to decide what their story is about, thematically-speaking.

They will then need to develop their thematic statement. If the theme refers to what the story is about, the thematic statement refers to what the writer thinks about it.

The theme is what it’s about, the thematic statement is what it means to the writer.

A helpful way for students to begin to understand how to develop themes in their own writing is to get good at identifying them in the work of others.

For this activity, provide the students with a list of well-known fairy tales and fables .

Instruct students to work in groups to identify first the broad theme of each story and then to write a thematic statement expressing the writer’s perspective.

Narrative Writing Skill 7: Ending Well (Conclusions)

Few things can be as frustrating to a reader as an unsatisfying ending. After investing all that time in reading the story, the reader deserves a decent pay-off at the end.

For a student to give themself the best chance to create a satisfying story, they should know the ending from the outset.

This way, every major scene and major event in the story will be informed by a knowledge of the ending yet to come. The story will have drive and direction.

There are lots of competing demands on our attention these days and the ending should justify to the reader the energy they invested in reading the story.

The ending should be well thought out and unrushed. It should be unpredictable, but not absurd.

Ideally, the writer wants the reader to look back over the story and think that they should have seen the ending coming, but didn’t.

Organize students into groups and assign each group a well-known story. Traditional tales, myths, fairy tales, and fables would serve well for this activity.

In their groups, students rewrite their story’s ending together.

The challenge here is to create an ending that differs distinctly from the story’s original ending but still makes sense in relation to the preceding events of the story.

Students present their alternative endings to the class and discuss afterward how effective they think the new ending is when compared to the original ending.

Our Narrative Draws to a Close

As with all types of writing , students should take the time to edit and proofread at the end.

This is particularly true with narrative writing as it not only makes high demands on a student’s technical writing skills but also on their creativity and imagination.

With patience and practice, students will develop the necessary narrative skills to spin a tale that will engage a reader from exposition to resolution.

Teaching narrative writing effectively involves guiding students through the process of crafting engaging stories. Here are five key tips for successful narrative writing instruction:

5 Tips for Teaching Narrative Writing

Model the Writing Process:

Demonstrate the steps involved in crafting a narrative by modelling your writing. Share your thought process, decision-making, and revisions. This provides students with a tangible example of how to approach storytelling.

Provide Clear Guidelines and Rubrics:

Establish clear expectations for narrative writing assignments. Clearly outline the elements you want students to include, such as well-developed characters, a compelling plot, and descriptive language. Provide a rubric highlighting specific assessment criteria, fostering a better understanding of what constitutes a successful narrative.

Encourage Frequent Peer Review:

Foster a collaborative learning environment by incorporating peer review sessions. Encourage students to exchange drafts and provide constructive feedback on each other’s work. Peer review enhances the revision process and allows students to learn from each other’s strengths and challenges.

Incorporate Writing Prompts and Exercises:

Use a variety of writing prompts and exercises to stimulate creativity and critical thinking. These can include character development activities, plot-building exercises, or even group storytelling. Diverse prompts help students explore different aspects of narrative writing, preventing monotony and inspiring varied storytelling styles.

Emphasize the Revision Process:

Highlight the importance of revision in the writing process. Encourage students to revisit and refine their narratives, focusing on aspects like clarity, coherence, and the incorporation of feedback. By emphasizing revision, students develop a stronger understanding of the iterative nature of writing and the importance of refining their work.

Remember to tailor your teaching approach to the specific needs and skill levels of your students. Creating a supportive and creative environment that values individual expression while providing structured guidance will contribute to the success of your narrative writing instruction.

THE STORY TELLERS BUNDLE OF TEACHING RESOURCES

narrative writing exercises | story tellers bundle 1 | Top 7 Narrative Writing Exercises for Students | literacyideas.com

A MASSIVE COLLECTION of resources for narratives and story writing in the classroom covering all elements of crafting amazing stories. MONTHS WORTH OF WRITING LESSONS AND RESOURCES, including:

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Writing Prompts and Lesson Plans

Looking for fuel to get your ideas flowing? Try one of these proven prompts from our earlier Narrative High School Writing Contests—plus, you can check out the winning works that these prompts inspired.

1. Where I’m Going : Write a piece that conjures a singular and distinct journey. 2. Dear America : Write about your perspective of America today, capturing your unique relationship with the country or the words you feel the nation needs to hear. 3. When Everything Changed : Write about a pivotal moment in your life or the fictional life of a developing character. 4. The Mistake : Write about a mistake that can’t be smoothed over, reconciled, or unmade. 5. The Choice : Write about a decision that altered the course of a life in some way, big or small. 6. Escape : Write about your version of escape—perhaps a physical act, an adventure, or a dream. 7. Blindspots : Write about a blindspot you feel needs greater attention and bring to light what others have been missing. 8. True or False? : Write something that conjures your version of this common question. 9. My Note to the World : Write about an issue that confounds the world at large or troubles your life specifically.

COMMENTS

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A Note About Form: Personal Narrative or Short Story? When teaching narrative writing, many teachers separate personal narratives from short stories. In my own classroom, I tended to avoid having my students write short stories because personal narratives were more accessible.
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Narrative writing prompts. Think about something that happened to you that you'll never forget. Write about what happened, who was involved and where it happened. Make sure you capture what makes that event hard to forget. Think about a memorable event that happened when you were in elementary school. Write a story describing what happened ...
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Here are some relatively simple ways to incorporate narrative writing in your high school classroom with 10 Prompt Writing Ideas: Write a Journal Entry- Students can respond to someone from a story as if they know the character personally. Create an Advertisement- Students can include a story from a "buyer" as an ad technique.
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1. Where I'm Going: Write a piece that conjures a singular and distinct journey. 2. Dear America: Write about your perspective of America today, capturing your unique relationship with the country or the words you feel the nation needs to hear. 3. When Everything Changed: Write about a pivotal moment in your life or the fictional life of a developing character.
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High School Narrative Writing Lesson plans and other teaching resources

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