Vol. I · No. 1 · MMXXVI
NextChapterBench A Benchmark of Literary Continuation
13 models · 10 items · 3 judges

The Standings → Fable 5

Live run data

Anthropic

Fable 5

high reasoning effort · via Claude CLI · judged by Fable 5 and Gemini 3.7 Flash and GPT-5.6 Sol · not the setting shown on the standings; also run at xhigh0.80 medium0.75

Results from run ‘first’: ten items, 30 verdicts.

Headline 0.795 compliance × craft
Compliance 0.982 of 1.0
Craft 0.810 of 1.0

The record: 10 items · 30 verdicts · 0 errors · 2,157 words on average · est. generation cost $5.13

Read the chapters in full

§ I

Craft by Dimension

Six dimensions, each marked 1–5, averaged over ten items and all judges.

Mean craft mark by dimension · 30 verdicts, run ‘first’

Voice
4.47
Prose
4.20
Character
4.07
Scene
4.20
Integration
4.50
Momentum
4.00
12345
craft mark, 1–5; bars begin at the scale’s floor of 1

Integration is the strongest dimension (4.50); momentum the weakest (4.00). Hover or focus a bar for the per-judge means.


§ II

The Three Judges, per Item

Each item receives one verdict from each judge; the spread of the dots is the disagreement.

Headline score per item, by judge · run ‘first’

Fable 5 Gemini 3.7 Flash GPT-5.6 Sol
The War of the Worlds
Persuasion
The Moonstone
Leave It to Psmith
Dracula
The Secret Garden
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Red Harvest
The Awakening
The Sun Also Rises
00.250.500.751.00
headline = compliance × craft, 0–1, one verdict per judge
The same ten items in figures, with word counts.
Item Headline Fable 5 Gemini 3.7 Flash GPT-5.6 Sol Words
The War of the Worlds item 006 · after ch. 1 · H. G. Wells 0.880.830.960.862,225
Persuasion item 001 · after ch. 1 · Jane Austen 0.850.790.920.832,267
The Moonstone item 011 · after ch. 8 · Wilkie Collins 0.830.790.960.752,659
Leave It to Psmith item 022 · after ch. 3 · P. G. Wodehouse 0.830.830.920.752,371
Dracula item 015 · after ch. 5 · Bram Stoker 0.810.830.880.711,886
The Secret Garden item 013 · after ch. 2 · Frances Hodgson Burnett 0.790.750.920.712,144
The Mysterious Affair at Styles item 017 · after ch. 3 · Agatha Christie 0.780.750.830.752,408
Red Harvest item 023 · after ch. 2 · Dashiell Hammett 0.740.710.750.752,115
The Awakening item 016 · after ch. 7 · Kate Chopin 0.740.750.790.671,528
The Sun Also Rises item 021 · after ch. 3 · Ernest Hemingway 0.700.680.750.681,969

  The widest judge split in the run: Gemini 3.7 Flash 0.92 against GPT-5.6 Sol 0.71 on The Secret Garden (item 013).


§ III

Length Against the Brief

Words written per item, against each brief’s maximum.

Word count per item vs. brief maximum · run ‘first’

words written brief maximum
The War of the Worlds
2,225
Persuasion
2,267
The Moonstone
2,659
Leave It to Psmith
2,371
Dracula
1,886
The Secret Garden
2,144
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
2,408
Red Harvest
2,115
The Awakening
1,528
The Sun Also Rises
1,969
08001,6002,4003,200
words; the ink tick marks each brief’s maximum

Ten of ten items landed inside their brief’s word range.


§ IV

Worst Flaws, as Recorded

Each verdict names the chapter’s single worst flaw, with evidence. Quoted verbatim from run ‘first’.

Franklin's blanket deferral (\"Not to-night... you shall have the whole story out of me... to-morrow\") lets the chapter withhold its central mystery by authorial fiat rather than dramatising it, and sits awkwardly against Betteredge's earlier note that when he asked Franklin that same day, Franklin believed \"It\" meant the Moonstone.

on The Moonstone, item 011 · Fable 5

Elizabeth's startling support for Anne—the chapter's biggest character surprise—is rationalized by a narratorial aside ('proceeded from her pride rather than her principles') and then quietly dropped by dinner-time, so the brief's most difficult beat is explained and disposed of rather than fully dramatized.

on Persuasion, item 001 · Fable 5

The chapter's first required beat — Eve returning the umbrella with her note — is delivered as a pluperfect flashback wedged inside Walderwick's grievance rather than played in the chapter's present line, so the one scene that belongs to Eve's initiative arrives second-hand and slightly muffled.

on Leave It to Psmith, item 022 · Fable 5

Mr Craven rides silently through nearly half the chapter as an atmospheric prop, and his one charged moment—the "queer, sharp look, as if she had reminded him of something"—gestures at a significance the chapter never develops, so his mandated presence adds mood but no drama.

on The Secret Garden, item 013 · Fable 5

§ V

The Mechanical Docket

Automated screening results across the ten outputs.