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

The Standings → GPT‑6 Sol (high)

Live run data

OpenAI

GPT‑6 Sol (high)

high reasoning effort · via Codex CLI · judged by Claude Sonnet 5 · the setting shown on the standings; also run at medium62.9 xhigh61.5

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

GPT‑6 Sol (high) scores 66 on craft, 3 points above the field’s 63 and 27 points short of the authors themselves. Its shape differs from the field’s: relatively strong on restraint, relatively weak on momentum and the author’s voice. On the mechanical checks it kept to the brief’s word range on 9 of 10 items and is unusually free of stock phrases.

Headline 63.8 of 100 · compliance × craft
Compliance 97 of 100
Craft 66 of 100

The record: 10 items · 10 verdicts · 0 errors · 2,313 words on average · est. generation cost $0.90

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
66
Prose
66
Character
65
Scene
66
Integration
64
Momentum
63
Restraint
69
Specificity
66
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 66. 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
The Awakening item 016 · after ch. 7 · Kate Chopin 76.8100771,724
Red Harvest item 023 · after ch. 2 · Dashiell Hammett 74.1100742,245
The Mysterious Affair at Styles item 017 · after ch. 3 · Agatha Christie 71.8100722,373
The Sun Also Rises item 021 · after ch. 3 · Ernest Hemingway 65.5100662,056
Leave It to Psmith item 022 · after ch. 3 · P. G. Wodehouse 64.195682,416
Persuasion item 001 · after ch. 1 · Jane Austen 62.5100622,599
The Moonstone item 011 · after ch. 8 · Wilkie Collins 60.0100602,561
The Secret Garden item 013 · after ch. 2 · Frances Hodgson Burnett 59.1100592,446
The War of the Worlds item 006 · after ch. 1 · H. G. Wells 58.1100582,471
Dracula item 015 · after ch. 5 · Bram Stoker 45.975612,242

§ 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 Awakening
1,724
Red Harvest
2,245
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
2,373
The Sun Also Rises
2,056
Leave It to Psmith
2,416
Persuasion
2,599
The Moonstone
2,561
The Secret Garden
2,446
The War of the Worlds
2,471
Dracula
2,242
08001,6002,4003,200
words; the ink tick marks each brief’s maximum

Nine of ten items landed inside their brief’s word range. The Secret Garden ran over by 46 words.


§ IV

Worst Flaws, as Recorded

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

With eleven short, similarly flat documents, the chapter reads like a checklist of required beats being ticked off rather than a lived correspondence, and it quietly shifts the fixed dinner date by a day.

on Dracula, item 015 · Claude Sonnet 5

Several key comic moments, like the umbrella purchase and the porter's exchange, are rushed through in a few flat lines instead of being played out as a scene, so the humor doesn't land.

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

The chapter ends by simply listing off the three required facts in a row, so it reads like a checklist being ticked off rather than a scene that was actually lived through.

on The Moonstone, item 011 · Claude Sonnet 5

Mr. Craven sits silently in the carriage for the entire long ride home, which feels like an odd, wasted use of him rather than something a real recluse would plausibly do.

on The Secret Garden, item 013 · Claude Sonnet 5

§ V

The Mechanical Docket

Automated screening results across the ten outputs.