Fire Starters: Group Memoir Writing Program (Live Online)
You've lived through something extraordinary. Your story deserves to be told. Do it here.
Six months of craft, community, and coaching built for writers like you.
(Even if you don't think of yourself as a writer yet.)
Fire Starters is a six-month memoir writing program built for breast cancer survivors and thrivers who are ready to tell the story of their lived experience. From October to March, you'll immerse yourself in the writer life you've been dreaming about — with the structure, coaching, and community to finally make it happen.
What People Are Saying
100% of surveyed Fire Starters alumni say the program helped them reach their writing goals — and that memoir writing is a healing tool they'll carry forward for life.
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"I wrote more in this six months than I ever have and I feel so proud of my work." — Fire Starters participant
"Fire Starters unlocked a rawness in me that needed to come out... I have grown and expanded as a human and a writer in ways I never would feel safe to do in a different environment." — Fire Starters participant
"The way April built the lessons and delivered the six months was amazing — I felt I was learning at my own pace while being part of a learning group with real momentum." — Fire Starters participant
Who is it for?
All stages of breast cancer welcome.
Participants may be any age now, but were diagnosed under 50. (If you were older at your diagnosis, Wildfire resonates with you, and you feel Fire Starters would be a good fit for you, reach out for a consultation.)
Ideally, you have attended a Wildfire “Sparks” Writing Workshop six-week series in the past or are currently enrolled, but not required.
How does it work?
Starting Saturday, October 6th and running through March 27th, Fire Starters is an online six-month memoir / personal narrative writing program and community.
Write the essays you've been meaning to write, craft a TEDTalk or keynote speech, begin your book at last, or make serious headway on an existing memoir manuscript!
Each month, we will meet online for group instruction and the opportunity for sharing and critique of your writing.
Between online sessions, I will provide you with prompts, inspiration, and craft teaching in the student portal. In this way, you will make real headway.
In fact, you can expect to write 20-200 pages during Fire Starters!
Enjoy access to the private WhatsApp group. It will become your favorite place on the internet, giving you the writing community you crave.
Note: There is no requirement to write about your cancer experience, but if you choose to, you're in perfect company to do so. Fire Starters is specifically designed for personal narrative writing (no fiction, please).
Writing enables you to go deep and connect with yourself, which can be both deeply rewarding & exceptionally lonely. This group allows you to craft your story in the exquisite company of others doing the same.
The Fire Starters Framework
Step 1 — Identify Your Story. Every memoir begins with a life experience — but great memoir is about what you did with it. We'll help you find the story you're meant to tell.
Step 2 — Find Your Structure. Linear or reverse chronological? Essays or chapters? We'll explore the architecture that lets your story breathe and shine.
Step 3 — Flesh It Out. Learn to write binge-worthy scenes, build compelling characters, and raise the stakes that keep a reader turning pages.
Step 4 — Focus & Write. The biggest gift Fire Starters gives you is time. Monthly write-in sessions carve space on your calendar so the writing actually happens.
Step 5 — Refine & Critique. At the heart of Fire Starters is the group critique — a generous, structured process for giving and receiving feedback that will transform your drafts.
Step 6 — Celebrate. After six months of writing together, we close with a Storytelling Showcase where you can read your work aloud. If writing is the inhale, sharing is the exhale.
Step 7 — Find Your Publishing Path. You'll leave with a clear next step for sharing your story with the world — when you're ready.
Choose Your Fire Starters Experience
Hearth
$997
Open enrollment
Your foundation
Listen in on monthly Writing Salons & critiques. Add coaching or manuscript review as one-off purchases.
Torch
$1,497
Limited to 15 participants
Everything in Hearth, plus
Phoenix
$1,797
— Applications closed —
Everything in Torch, plus
“I created Fire Starters to really foster the community, creativity, time, and space to sink your teeth into a life-changing writing project. This is the writing program and community that I personally longed for as a writer. I want to give you the jumpstart and momentum that I craved to bring a memoir project to life.” ~April Stearns
Hi! I’m April Stearns, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Wildfire Journal & Writing Community.
A lifelong writer, I landed my first memoir-based magazine cover story at just 16. From there, I worked for my college newspaper (“City on the Hill” at the University of California at Santa Cruz) and then went on to work for my local newspaper (The Sentinel, Santa Cruz, CA) following graduation. I loved the smell of the printing press and the excitement of the reporters’ bullpen! But, before long, I was lured to other writing jobs “over the hill” from Santa Cruz in Silicon Valley during the tech boom of the early 2000s.
However, in 2012, in the midst of this budding career, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer at age 35. Four years later, while struggling to “go back to normal” and find others in similar circumstances, I took a leap of faith and launched Wildfire Journal as a way for younger people to tell and read breast cancer stories.
Since 2016, I’ve had the privilege of guiding hundreds of writers through the Wildfire writing workshops — from the fun, free monthly pop-up to the heartfelt, expressive writing-focused Sparks series to the rich memoir incubator Fire Starters — and published more than 60 issues of Wildfire Journal.
I believe strongly that helping others tell their stories has the dramatic effect of turning a traumatic cancer experience into an empowering one — and uncovering a life full of meaning. I live with my husband and teen daughter in Santa Cruz. Although I love town life after growing up on an apple orchard, I also like to get away from all the hustle and bustle whenever I can to hike in the woods with my 11-year-old border/aussie, Skye, but writing memoir remains my purest, most beloved escape.