Author Neil Gaiman has kicked off a collaborative interactive story on microblogging service Twitter, asking the public to add to his opening line.

BBC Audiobooks US will be stitching together the best lines on the hashtag #bbcawdio after Gaiman kicked things off with a revolting mirror image.

Gaiman is one of the hottest authors around, having penned the likes Coraline – a recent movie hit – American Gods and the Sandman comics.

Woman in the mirror

"Sam was brushing her hair when the girl in the mirror put down the hairbrush, smiled & said, "We don't love you anymore," reads Gaiman's opener.

The final script – minus all the dull contributions of course – will be turned into an audio book which will be available for free.

Well, it's certainly an interesting experiment.