Should the first paragraph of a chapter be indented?

No. The first paragraph after any heading is set flush left, with no indent. An indent exists to signal that a new paragraph has begun, and after a chapter title there is nothing to distinguish it from, so the indent marks a distinction that does not exist. This is the most consistently observed rule in book typography and the one word processors break by default.

An enlarged first letter that sits down into the text block, occupying two, three or four lines of it. It is the oldest of the chapter-opening devices, descended from the illuminated initials of manuscripts, and it is a signal that the reader has arrived somewhere new.

How many lines should a drop cap span?

Three is the safe default. Two reads as timid and can look like an accident, four or more is a deliberately decorative choice that suits fantasy, historical and literary fiction better than contemporary work. What matters more than the count is that the cap aligns cleanly at the top with the first line and sits exactly on the baseline of the last line it spans.

What are small capitals used for at a chapter opening?

To carry the reader from the enlarged first letter back into normal text, usually across the first three to five words or the whole first line. They soften what would otherwise be an abrupt jump from a large initial to body type. Real small capitals are drawn at that size; letters merely scaled down look thin and are visibly wrong.

Do chapters have to start on a right-hand page?

Not always, but it is the convention for literary fiction and most non-fiction, and it is what a reader expects. It costs pages: roughly half of your chapters will need a blank verso before them, which on a thirty-chapter novel is around fifteen extra pages. Commercial fiction often starts chapters on any page to save that cost.

How far down the page should a chapter start?

Between a quarter and a third of the way down, which typographers call the sink. It is a deliberate use of white space that says a chapter has begun, and it stays constant across every chapter in the book. A chapter that starts higher or lower than its neighbours reads as an error even to someone who could not name what changed.

Can I combine a drop cap with small capitals?

Yes, and it is the most common pairing in literary fiction: an enlarged initial, then the next few words in small capitals, then normal text. What you should not do is combine several devices at once. A drop cap plus small caps plus a decorative rule plus a large ornament is four signals for one event.

How a chapter should open

Open a novel at a chapter. There is white space above the title, the title itself, more space, and then the text begins with an enlarged letter or a few words in small capitals — and that first paragraph is not indented.

Every one of those decisions is conventional, and every one of them has a reason. They are also the decisions a word processor makes wrong by default, which is why a chapter opening is the fastest place to tell a typeset book from a printed manuscript.

The sink

A chapter does not start at the top of the page. It starts a quarter to a third of the way down, and the space above it is called the sink.

This is white space used as punctuation. The gap says that something has ended and something else is beginning, and it does so before the reader has read a word. It is also the reason a chapter opening page feels different in the hand from every other page in the book.

The sink stays constant across the whole book. A chapter that starts an inch higher than the one before reads as a mistake even to a reader who could not tell you what changed.

The first paragraph is not indented

This is the most consistently observed rule in book typography, and the one broken most often.

An indent signals that a new paragraph has begun, distinguishing it from the paragraph above. After a chapter title there is no paragraph above. The indent would mark a distinction that does not exist, and it leaves the first line hanging slightly adrift from the title it belongs to.

The same applies after any heading, after a scene break, and after a block quotation when the text continues the same paragraph.

This also applies to the first paragraph of a preface, an introduction, an appendix — anything that opens with a title. Word processors indent every paragraph identically, which is exactly why the defect is so common in self-published books.

The opening treatment

The first few words usually get a treatment, and there are three common approaches.

The drop cap. An enlarged first letter sinking into the text block across two, three or four lines. Three is the safe default: two can look like an accident, four or more is deliberately decorative and suits fantasy, historical and literary fiction more than contemporary work.

A drop cap has to be set properly, and this is where most of them fail. The top of the letter aligns with the top of the first line. Its baseline sits exactly on the baseline of the last line it spans. The text wraps to its right with consistent spacing, and the letter after it is not left with an awkward gap — which is why a quotation mark or a letter like A or W usually needs optical adjustment that no automatic setting gets right on its own.

Small capitals on the opening words. The first three to five words, or the whole first line, set in small capitals. Quieter than a drop cap and easier to get right.

They must be real small capitals, drawn at that size by the type designer. Letters scaled down from full capitals are too light and too narrow, and the difference is obvious side by side even to someone who has never thought about it.

Both. An enlarged initial, then the following words in small capitals, then normal text. This is the most common pairing in literary fiction, and the small caps do real work: they carry the eye from a very large letter back to body size without an abrupt step.

One signal per event. A drop cap and small capitals is a pairing. A drop cap, small capitals, a decorative rule and an ornament is four announcements of the same thing.

Recto starts, and what they cost

Literary fiction and most non-fiction start chapters on a right-hand page. When a chapter would fall on a verso, a blank page is inserted to push it across.

Those blanks are deliberate and readers do not register them as errors. What they cost is pages: roughly half your chapters will need one, so a thirty-chapter novel gains about fifteen pages. At print-on-demand rates that is real money, and it changes the spine width, which changes the cover.

Commercial fiction frequently starts chapters wherever they fall for exactly this reason. Both are defensible. What is not defensible is doing it inconsistently.

Chapter numbers and titles

If chapters have both a number and a title, they are two elements, and setting them at the same size makes them compete. The usual answer is a smaller number above a larger title, often with the number in small capitals or old-style figures.

If chapters have only numbers, the number is the display element and can be set considerably larger than you would expect. It is the only thing on that part of the page.

Running heads do not appear on a chapter opening page. The page number often does not either, or it moves to the foot. A running head on an opening page competes with the title for the same job.

What actually matters

If you take one thing: do not indent the first paragraph, and keep the sink constant. Those two cost nothing, need no decorative decisions, and account for most of the difference between a page that reads as typeset and one that reads as printed from a word processor.

The drop cap is optional. Plenty of well-made books have none.

In Nueel the opening treatment belongs to the design rather than to the paragraph, so a drop cap is a property of what a chapter is — and the sections that should never carry one, like a copyright page or a dedication, cannot receive it by accident. The indent suppression, the sink and the recto rule come from the same place, which is why they stay consistent across four hundred pages without anyone checking each chapter by hand.

Common questions

Should the first paragraph of a chapter be indented?: No. The first paragraph after any heading is set flush left, with no indent. An indent exists to signal that a new paragraph has begun, and after a chapter title there is nothing to distinguish it from, so the indent marks a distinction that does not exist. This is the most consistently observed rule in book typography and the one word processors break by default.
What is a drop cap?: An enlarged first letter that sits down into the text block, occupying two, three or four lines of it. It is the oldest of the chapter-opening devices, descended from the illuminated initials of manuscripts, and it is a signal that the reader has arrived somewhere new.
How many lines should a drop cap span?: Three is the safe default. Two reads as timid and can look like an accident, four or more is a deliberately decorative choice that suits fantasy, historical and literary fiction better than contemporary work. What matters more than the count is that the cap aligns cleanly at the top with the first line and sits exactly on the baseline of the last line it spans.
What are small capitals used for at a chapter opening?: To carry the reader from the enlarged first letter back into normal text, usually across the first three to five words or the whole first line. They soften what would otherwise be an abrupt jump from a large initial to body type. Real small capitals are drawn at that size; letters merely scaled down look thin and are visibly wrong.
Do chapters have to start on a right-hand page?: Not always, but it is the convention for literary fiction and most non-fiction, and it is what a reader expects. It costs pages: roughly half of your chapters will need a blank verso before them, which on a thirty-chapter novel is around fifteen extra pages. Commercial fiction often starts chapters on any page to save that cost.
How far down the page should a chapter start?: Between a quarter and a third of the way down, which typographers call the sink. It is a deliberate use of white space that says a chapter has begun, and it stays constant across every chapter in the book. A chapter that starts higher or lower than its neighbours reads as an error even to someone who could not name what changed.
Can I combine a drop cap with small capitals?: Yes, and it is the most common pairing in literary fiction: an enlarged initial, then the next few words in small capitals, then normal text. What you should not do is combine several devices at once. A drop cap plus small caps plus a decorative rule plus a large ornament is four signals for one event.