  A universal First-Letter Law (FLL) is derived and described. It predicts the
percentages of first letters for words in novels. The FLL is akin to Benford's
law (BL) of first digits, which predicts the percentages of first digits in a
data collection of numbers. Both are universal in the sense that FLL only
depends on the numbers of letters in the alphabet, whereas BL only depends on
the number of digits in the base of the number system. The existence of these
types of universal laws appears counter-intuitive. Nonetheless both describe
data very well. Relations to some earlier works are given. FLL predicts that an
English author on the average starts about 16 out of 100 words with the English
letter `t'. This is corroborated by data, yet an author can freely write
anything. Fuller implications and the applicability of FLL remain for the
future.
