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

The Standings → Gemini 3.7 Flash

Live run data

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Gemini 3.7 Flash

high reasoning effort · via Antigravity 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 medium0.56

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

Headline 0.560 compliance × craft
Compliance 0.945 of 1.0
Craft 0.590 of 1.0

The record: 10 items · 30 verdicts · 0 errors · 3,371 words on average · est. generation cost $0.92

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
3.47
Prose
3.07
Character
3.20
Scene
3.50
Integration
3.37
Momentum
3.57
12345
craft mark, 1–5; bars begin at the scale’s floor of 1

Momentum is the strongest dimension (3.57); prose the weakest (3.07). 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 Moonstone
Dracula
Leave It to Psmith
The War of the Worlds
Persuasion
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
The Sun Also Rises
Red Harvest
The Secret Garden
The Awakening
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 Moonstone item 011 · after ch. 8 · Wilkie Collins 0.620.590.750.533,762
Dracula item 015 · after ch. 5 · Bram Stoker 0.610.630.750.463,087
Leave It to Psmith item 022 · after ch. 3 · P. G. Wodehouse 0.600.640.710.463,755
The War of the Worlds item 006 · after ch. 1 · H. G. Wells 0.570.590.750.383,255
Persuasion item 001 · after ch. 1 · Jane Austen 0.570.580.710.422,637
The Mysterious Affair at Styles item 017 · after ch. 3 · Agatha Christie 0.550.510.750.403,455
The Sun Also Rises item 021 · after ch. 3 · Ernest Hemingway 0.540.550.710.363,382
Red Harvest item 023 · after ch. 2 · Dashiell Hammett 0.540.530.750.344,363
The Secret Garden item 013 · after ch. 2 · Frances Hodgson Burnett 0.510.590.550.404,204
The Awakening item 016 · after ch. 7 · Kate Chopin 0.470.510.580.321,808

  The widest judge split in the run: Gemini 3.7 Flash 0.75 against GPT-5.6 Sol 0.34 on Red Harvest (item 023).


§ 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 Moonstone
3,762
Dracula
3,087
Leave It to Psmith
3,755
The War of the Worlds
3,255
Persuasion
2,637
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
3,455
The Sun Also Rises
3,382
Red Harvest
4,363
The Secret Garden
4,204
The Awakening
1,808
01,2002,4003,6004,800
words; the ink tick marks each brief’s maximum

Zero of ten items landed inside their brief’s word range. The Moonstone and Dracula and Leave It to Psmith and The War of the Worlds and Persuasion and The Mysterious Affair at Styles and The Sun Also Rises and Red Harvest and The Secret Garden and The Awakening ran over by 962 and 487 and 955 and 655 and 37 and 655 and 782 and 1,763 and 1,804 and 8 words respectively.


§ IV

Worst Flaws, as Recorded

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

Seward's 28 May entry over-explains and melodramatizes the Renfield mystery — \"The question struck me like a physical blow... The blood seemed to rush from my head to my heart\" — telling the reader how uncanny it is instead of letting the question land, and in doing so pushes right up against the ban on supernatural hinting.

on Dracula, item 015 · Fable 5

Lady Verinder's unmotivated omniscience — she somehow already knows Franklin has come "on a mission ... connected with the past" — exists only to trigger the required prohibition scene, and it visibly breaks both her characterisation and the letter's own secrecy instruction.

on The Moonstone, item 011 · Fable 5

Chronic overwriting — nearly every noun carries two or three adjectives (\"a sudden glare of extraordinary brilliance\", \"a glowing trail of luminous vapor... like a luminous scar\") — pads the chapter far past the brief and dilutes Wells's economical, understated dread.

on The War of the Worlds, item 006 · Fable 5

The chapter pads and over-explains every effect — nearly twice the brief's length, with the closing passage spelling out Mary's deduction ('It was a living, moving sound, and Mrs. Medlock had lied to her') that Burnett would have trusted the reader to make.

on The Secret Garden, item 013 · Fable 5

§ V

The Mechanical Docket

Automated screening results across the ten outputs.