DeepSeek V4 Pro vs Gemini 3.5 Flash for creative writing

The verdict

Gemini 3.5 Flash wins, 9693

Same 12 creative writing tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. Gemini 3.5 Flash took 3 tasks, DeepSeek V4 Pro took 2, 7 tied. Tested 16 Aug 2026.

Where they differed most

The task — Ferry, retired

Write a poem of exactly 8 lines about a retired ferry rusting in an estuary. Choose a rhyme scheme and keep it consistent for all 8 lines, avoid sea clichés ('briny deep', 'watery grave'), and land the final line on an image, not a moral.

The ferry, retired, tilts in tidal silt,  
its hull a patchwork of corroded gilt.  
The engine room, now open to the rain,  
lets daylight through the fractures in each chain.  
The ramp lies folded like a broken jaw,  
its cables frayed above the mud-caked floor.  
A cormorant folds up its black wing,  
and from the wheelhouse, rust falls in a ring.
The tide retreats across the ribbed gray silt,
To leave her grounded on a bank of clay,
Where flaking iron plates begin to tilt,
And layers of her yellow paint decay.
A lonely gull patrols the empty deck,
Where salt has seized the throttle and the cog,
And bladderwrack clings to the rusted wreck,
Half-swallowed by the creeping river fog.

Task by task

TaskDeepSeek V4 ProGemini 3.5 Flash
The launderette at closing910
Angry without saying angry1010
Ferry, retired610
The piano argument109
A hundred words exactly1010
Keep the voice98
Kill the purple1010
His side of it1010
The bin lorry story1010
Around the hole89
No one can promise Bridport99
Refuse the fake article1010

Full receipts: DeepSeek V4 Pro, Gemini 3.5 Flash · judges claude-sonnet-5, gemini-3.1-pro-preview, gpt-5.6-terra

Questions people ask

Which is better for creative writing: DeepSeek V4 Pro or Gemini 3.5 Flash?

Gemini 3.5 Flash — it scored 96/100 against 93/100 on our 12-task creative writing suite, winning 3 tasks to 2 with 7 tied. Every answer was marked blind by three judges from three rival AI labs.

How was this tested?

Both models answered the identical published creative writing tasks. Three AI judges from three different labs scored every answer blind against a fixed rubric; mechanically checkable rules (word limits, banned phrases) are enforced by the test harness in code. The raw outputs and judge verdicts are downloadable.

More creative writing head-to-heads: Gemini 3.5 Flash vs GPT-5.5 · DeepSeek V4 Pro vs GPT-5.5 · Gemini 3.5 Flash vs GPT-5.6 Terra · DeepSeek V4 Pro vs GPT-5.6 Terra · Gemini 3.5 Flash vs GPT-5.6 Sol · DeepSeek V4 Pro vs GPT-5.6 Sol

Full ranking: Best AI for creative writing · model pages: DeepSeek V4 Pro, Gemini 3.5 Flash