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

The Standings → GPT‑5.6 Luna

Live run data

OpenAI

GPT‑5.6 Luna

medium reasoning effort · via Codex CLI · judged by Claude Sonnet 5 · not the setting shown on the standings; also run at xhigh50.3 high48.4

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

GPT‑5.6 Luna scores 54 on craft, 9 points below the field’s 63 and 39 points short of the authors themselves. Its shape differs from the field’s: relatively strong on momentum and building scenes, relatively weak on the author’s voice and folding the brief into the story. On the mechanical checks it kept to the brief’s word range on 6 of 10 items.

Headline 49.9 of 100 · compliance × craft
Compliance 93 of 100
Craft 54 of 100

The record: 10 items · 10 verdicts · 0 errors · 2,583 words on average · est. generation cost $0.08

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
53
Prose
54
Character
54
Scene
57
Integration
51
Momentum
57
Restraint
51
Specificity
53
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 54. 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 60.590672,538
The War of the Worlds item 006 · after ch. 1 · H. G. Wells 57.1100572,270
The Moonstone item 011 · after ch. 8 · Wilkie Collins 55.8100562,789
The Awakening item 016 · after ch. 7 · Kate Chopin 53.995571,901
Leave It to Psmith item 022 · after ch. 3 · P. G. Wodehouse 50.085593,209
The Secret Garden item 013 · after ch. 2 · Frances Hodgson Burnett 49.590552,699
Red Harvest item 023 · after ch. 2 · Dashiell Hammett 46.495492,365
The Mysterious Affair at Styles item 017 · after ch. 3 · Agatha Christie 46.385552,457
Persuasion item 001 · after ch. 1 · Jane Austen 45.095473,018
The Sun Also Rises item 021 · after ch. 3 · Ernest Hemingway 34.695362,588

§ 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
2,538
The War of the Worlds
2,270
The Moonstone
2,789
The Awakening
1,901
Leave It to Psmith
3,209
The Secret Garden
2,699
Red Harvest
2,365
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
2,457
Persuasion
3,018
The Sun Also Rises
2,588
01,0002,0003,0004,000
words; the ink tick marks each brief’s maximum

Six of ten items landed inside their brief’s word range. The Awakening and Leave It to Psmith and The Secret Garden and Persuasion ran over by 101 and 409 and 299 and 418 words respectively.


§ IV

Worst Flaws, as Recorded

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

Feelings are announced instead of dramatized — lines like "the knowledge rested in her like a secret flame" and Robert's remark staying in her mind "tenderly, persistently, like a voice calling from a distance" tell the reader exactly what to feel rather than letting the scene create the feeling.

on The Awakening, item 016 · Claude Sonnet 5

The closing telegram flatly names 'Castle' and 'Count' and has Harker free in Budapest with his own clothes, which both spells out the mystery the chapter was supposed to keep hidden and contradicts the established fact that the Count took his clothes and papers.

on Dracula, item 015 · Claude Sonnet 5

It quietly swaps in the secretary Baxter for the Earl who was supposed to do the interviewing, and Psmith basically lets Eve's guess about the umbrella stand instead of dodging it the way the real character would.

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

Almost every scene is written as a rapid back-and-forth quiz (short question, short answer, short question), which makes the characters feel like they're reciting a script instead of talking like people.

on Red Harvest, item 023 · Claude Sonnet 5

§ V

The Mechanical Docket

Automated screening results across the ten outputs.