Vol. I · No. 1 · MMXXVI
NextChapterBench A Benchmark of Literary Continuation
23 models · 10 items · 1 judge

The Standings → GPT‑6 Luna (medium)

Live run data

OpenAI

GPT‑6 Luna (medium)

medium reasoning effort · via Codex CLI · judged by Claude Sonnet 5 · not the setting shown on the standings; also run at high50.6 xhigh49.7

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

GPT‑6 Luna (medium) scores 50 on craft, 13 points below the field’s 63 and 43 points short of the authors themselves. Its shape differs from the field’s: relatively strong on restraint and folding the brief into the story, relatively weak on period detail and the author’s voice. On the mechanical checks it kept to the brief’s word range on 8 of 10 items.

Headline 47.3 of 100 · compliance × craft
Compliance 95 of 100
Craft 50 of 100

The record: 10 items · 10 verdicts · 0 errors · 1,964 words on average · est. generation cost $0.03

Read the chapters in full

§ I

Craft by Dimension

Eight dimensions, each 0–100, averaged over ten items; the author’s real chapter was in the room every time.

Craft by dimension, 0–100 · judged by Sonnet 5 beside the author’s real chapter

Voice
50
Prose
50
Character
49
Scene
49
Integration
53
Momentum
49
Restraint
55
Specificity
44
0255075100
reader’s score, 0–100 · hollow tick: field average · filled tick: the authors themselves

The authors themselves average 93 on the five writing dimensions, the field 63, this model 50. Hover or focus a bar for the field and the authors on that dimension.

In plain words, item by item

The judge’s one-sentence best quality and worst flaw for each chapter, written for a general reader.


§ II

Per-Item Results

Headline, compliance and craft for each chapter, 0–100.

The same ten items in figures, with word counts.
Item Headline Compliance Craft Words
Dracula item 015 · after ch. 5 · Bram Stoker 59.495622,011
The Mysterious Affair at Styles item 017 · after ch. 3 · Agatha Christie 53.495561,993
The Moonstone item 011 · after ch. 8 · Wilkie Collins 51.7100522,656
Persuasion item 001 · after ch. 1 · Jane Austen 51.2100512,338
Leave It to Psmith item 022 · after ch. 3 · P. G. Wodehouse 46.885552,774
The Sun Also Rises item 021 · after ch. 3 · Ernest Hemingway 46.795491,098
The War of the Worlds item 006 · after ch. 1 · H. G. Wells 45.690511,911
The Secret Garden item 013 · after ch. 2 · Frances Hodgson Burnett 43.6100441,728
Red Harvest item 023 · after ch. 2 · Dashiell Hammett 42.395441,836
The Awakening item 016 · after ch. 7 · Kate Chopin 32.395341,296

§ 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
Dracula
2,011
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
1,993
The Moonstone
2,656
Persuasion
2,338
Leave It to Psmith
2,774
The Sun Also Rises
1,098
The War of the Worlds
1,911
The Secret Garden
1,728
Red Harvest
1,836
The Awakening
1,296
08001,6002,4003,200
words; the ink tick marks each brief’s maximum

Eight 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’.

It reads like a competent period pastiche rather than Betteredge himself — the jokes, digressions and self-interruptions that make his voice distinctive are mostly missing, and the big emotional beats (like Lady Verinder's prohibition) are stated flatly instead of played out.

on The Moonstone, item 011 · Claude Sonnet 5

Most of the chapter is told in flat, quick summary instead of scenes, so it reads like a list of plot points rather than a piece of the novel, and it spells out its own meaning by having a character repeat the theme almost word for word at the very end.

on The Awakening, item 016 · Claude Sonnet 5

Lord Emsworth talks and thinks like a brisk, competent businessman instead of the vague, flower-obsessed forgetful earl the real books make him, so the interview scene doesn't feel like this story.

on Leave It to Psmith, item 022 · Claude Sonnet 5

Several letters, especially Billington's and the run of short telegrams at the end, read like plain modern plot-reporting rather than voices with any real period flavor or personality.

on Dracula, item 015 · Claude Sonnet 5

§ V

The Mechanical Docket

Automated screening results across the ten outputs.