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

The Standings → GPT‑6 Sol (xhigh)

Live run data

OpenAI

GPT‑6 Sol (xhigh)

xhigh reasoning effort · via Codex CLI · judged by Claude Sonnet 5 · not the setting shown on the standings; also run at high63.8 medium62.9

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

GPT‑6 Sol (xhigh) scores 62 on craft, 1 points below the field’s 63 and 31 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 building scenes. On the mechanical checks it kept to the brief’s word range on 10 of 10 items and is unusually free of stock phrases.

Headline 61.5 of 100 · compliance × craft
Compliance 99 of 100
Craft 62 of 100

The record: 10 items · 10 verdicts · 0 errors · 2,297 words on average · est. generation cost $1.06

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
62
Prose
63
Character
62
Scene
60
Integration
64
Momentum
59
Restraint
67
Specificity
60
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 62. 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 Secret Garden item 013 · after ch. 2 · Frances Hodgson Burnett 73.2100732,218
The Mysterious Affair at Styles item 017 · after ch. 3 · Agatha Christie 66.9100672,582
Red Harvest item 023 · after ch. 2 · Dashiell Hammett 66.1100662,426
Persuasion item 001 · after ch. 1 · Jane Austen 63.7100642,457
The Moonstone item 011 · after ch. 8 · Wilkie Collins 61.9100622,738
The War of the Worlds item 006 · after ch. 1 · H. G. Wells 61.4100612,212
The Awakening item 016 · after ch. 7 · Kate Chopin 59.5100601,639
Leave It to Psmith item 022 · after ch. 3 · P. G. Wodehouse 56.9100572,299
The Sun Also Rises item 021 · after ch. 3 · Ernest Hemingway 54.5100552,191
Dracula item 015 · after ch. 5 · Bram Stoker 50.790562,210

§ 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 Secret Garden
2,218
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
2,582
Red Harvest
2,426
Persuasion
2,457
The Moonstone
2,738
The War of the Worlds
2,212
The Awakening
1,639
Leave It to Psmith
2,299
The Sun Also Rises
2,191
Dracula
2,210
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’.

The dialogue and narration are flat and businesslike where the real book would be rich with comic exaggeration, so it reads like a competent summary of Wodehouse rather than Wodehouse himself.

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

Too much of the confrontation is delivered as flat plot summary ('Sir Walter declared the plan impossible') rather than played out in the room, so the big moments don't land with much force.

on Persuasion, item 001 · Claude Sonnet 5

Much of the chapter tells us what Mary is thinking and feeling instead of dramatizing it through action and dialogue, which makes the prose read flatter than the original book's style.

on The Secret Garden, item 013 · Claude Sonnet 5

The interview with Mrs. Willsson collapses into a long string of one-line question-and-answer volleys that reads like a police transcript instead of a scene between two people.

on Red Harvest, item 023 · Claude Sonnet 5

§ V

The Mechanical Docket

Automated screening results across the ten outputs.