The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 8 letter word VERA BRITTAIN
V
E
R
A
B
R
I
T
T
A
I
N
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Novelist" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case novelist = vera brittain.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.