What Steps Does Lisa Cron’S Story Genius Use To Build A Protagonist?

When the apocalypse came, she lost everything. Starving, hunted, and desperate, she trusted the one man she loved… only for him to betray her in the cruelest way possible. He stole her last supplies to please another woman and left her to die in a sea of the undead. But death wasn’t the end. She woke up days before the world collapsed. After cutting ties with her ungrateful ex and his parasitic family, a mysterious voice awakens in her mind, LUS, a Level-Up System designed to help her survive the coming end. With knowledge of the future and a system guiding her every move, she begins to prepare. She stockpiles resources, builds a base, and learns how to fight back against the horrors that once destroyed her. And when the apocalypse arrives again… she’s ready. But survival isn’t the only thing waiting for her in this new life. A silent killer who watches her like prey. A manipulative genius who wants to unravel her secrets. A gentle protector who sees the girl she hides. And a dangerous man who thrives in chaos. As the world burns and power shifts, they’re all drawn to her, each with their own motives, each with their own darkness. Even her past refuses to stay buried. Because now, the man who once abandoned her is back, broken, desperate, and begging for a second chance. Too bad she has no time for regrets. Not when she’s busy rising to power… and building a kingdom in the ruins of the world.

She was once a woman—a lesbian to be exact—in her past life, fantasizing about having a date with beautiful girls and dreaming to act like a real man does someday. But she was afraid to show her true colors because she was living in a judgemental society. Not until, she was trapped in a burning hospital building, trying to save an old woman before herself but only to find out that old woman was only an apparition of a deceased person. She died there, sacrificing her life for nothing. Many things happened in her mind before she runs out of breath. The next thing happened, she emerged from a bamboo tree and woke up into another realm. And to her surprise, she was reincarnated as a teenage guy possessing magical skills. She is Princess Maria Isabelle De Lata who later known as Reign Thunderstorm in the magical world of Artesia. And this is her… wait a minute… and this is the story of how she or… he became a legend.

Elise has never thought she could be someone special until she is warped into the past—to the Land of Magic—in Ancient Egypt. She finds herself including her brother and a couple of friends in the middle of the battle, between the Scorpion King and the Cobra King. She needs to choose to forge an alliance with to be able to survive in this ancient time and place and figure out how they can go back to their present time and be reunited with their parents.

Vera fought for her life in the apocalypse for ten years. Ten brutal years left her disfigured, hungry, and almost broken, but she still clawed her way through it. She killed zombies, ran from mutated animals, starved, bled, and learned humans were often more dangerous than monsters. Then her brother, the only family she had left, betrayed her. Vera thought death had finally come. Instead, she woke up inside a trashy book she once read to stay sane while the old world fell apart. A book with a twisted plot and too much drama. And because her luck had always been terrible, Vera did not wake up as the heroine. No, of course not. Her second chance was to become the hated second female lead, pregnant, unwanted, and written to die when the plot no longer needed her. Her babies were supposed to die too. Even the three men who got her pregnant were written as future corpses, all to push the story toward spoiled women and one psychotic male lead. But Vera was not the woman from the book. She had survived one ruined world. She had not walked through radioactive rain and eaten mutated food just to cry over fantasy characters or beg for love inside a stupid plot. So Vera adapted. She accepted her punishment, took her three unborn babies, and left for the garbage center without making a scene. Everyone thought she had been thrown away. Vera saw a chance to make money, protect her babies, and build something of her own. Now the woman meant to disappear is building a wasteland empire, breaking the plot, and driving three men insane because she no longer chases anyone. By every rule in that world, Vera should be dead. But dying a second time was never an option.

In every story, the Alpha and his beloved Luna live happily ever after. The treacherous Second Lead is cast out, branded a monster, and forgotten. That was supposed to be Cecelia’s ending. When Alpha Lucas chose Amanda and crowned her Luna of the Silver Moon Pack, the world cheered as Cecelia was dragged to the stake, framed for treason, and declared a bitter villain who tried to ruin true love. Everyone loved the heroes. Everyone hated Cecelia. Nobody asked why. Nobody knew about the forged letters, the stolen family heirlooms, or the dark political conspiracy that branded an innocent woman to steal her unborn child. To the pack, Lucas and Amanda were royalty, and Cecelia was the dark mark on their fairytale. Left for dead at the border, bloody and broken, Cecelia is rescued by Lancelot—the ruthless Rogue King whose name strikes terror across the territories. He doesn't offer pity, and he doesn't offer romance. He offers her a sword, a fortress, and a chance to survive. As Lucas and Amanda celebrate their perfect victory, a dark truth begins to surface: the "villain" they tried to erase is still breathing. And inside her carries a child with a bloodline powerful enough to destroy the Alpha Council. This time, Cecelia isn't playing the desperate girl begging for love. She is embracing the villainous mark they gave her, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Rogue King to expose the heroes who built their paradise on her blood. They gave her a monster’s title. Now, they will feel a mother’s wrath. "You loved the fairytale," she whispered, stepping onto the ashes of their throne. "Now read the chapter where the monster wins."

Veronica Demoore was the girl everyone despised. Mocked for her weight, humiliated for her grades, and crushed beneath a brutal home life, she lived every day as the target of ridicule—until the day she couldn’t bear it anymore. The world thought Veronica died that night. But when she opens her eyes again… someone else is looking through them. Savanna. A woman once raised in the shadows of a powerful organization. A genius trained to survive, manipulate, and dominate. In her previous life, she had wealth, intelligence, and strength. In this one, she has none of those things—only Veronica’s broken body and shattered reputation. But weakness is temporary. Bullies who once laughed at Veronica soon discover the girl they tormented is no longer the same. Her mind is sharper. Her gaze is colder. And the quiet girl they used to push around now carries a dangerous confidence. As Savanna begins transforming Veronica’s life piece by piece—losing weight, exposing enemies, and rising to the top of the school—the truth behind her rebirth slowly unfolds. Because Savanna didn’t die by accident. And the people who killed her are still out there. This time, she won’t be their victim. This time— she’s coming for everything.