Quarantine novelist Jim Crace

Jim Crace, who won the Whitbread prize with his book Quarantine, is taking part in the project.

He said: "Hopefully, people who feel passionately about literature will see this as a great opportunity to grab 15 paragraphs of fame."

But he added: "Of course, if they bid a great deal of money they are going to want a bigger showing than that."

Money raised from the auction, at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in London, will go to the charity The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.

Prospective bidders should watch out, however.

Last October Scotish crime writer Ian Rankin offered the chance to appear in his latest novel in an auction in aid of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund.

But Rankin would not reveal who exactly the character would be, nor whether it would be a baddie, and nor will the writers in this auction.