: Capitalized opening lines I've noticed that novels and short stories nowadays capitalize the first sentence. Example (This is from Joe Hill's Throttle): Two questions: 1) What's the font size

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From the books I read this is quite uncommon (and in my opinion it does not improve legibility), but frequently initials are used. Small capitals would be LaTeXed by 'textsc{...}'.

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The font size remains the same irrespective of the capitalization. Like Hobbes mentioned, it is done in small capitals (for example, if you are using Microsoft Word for writing, you can right click on the selection, click on "Font..." and in the window that comes up, select "Small caps").

I have seen it being done for some novels and I don't believe it is a regular practice. Have rarely seen it for stories, and in my opinion, can be completely done away with if the opening sentence is a dialogue.

You may also find this discussion of some interest: www.mobileread.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-100175.html

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In your example, the font size is the same, the capitalized part is done in 'small capitals'.
In my experience, the practice is rare. I wouldn't bother, as it does nothing to improve legibility.

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