The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word TOLKIEN
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
T
O
L
K
I
E
N
More clues leading to the result TOLKIEN
- Not like novel writer
- An author to like, possibly new
- To make up story about king, head of Númenor: this author did!
- To make up tale about Khuzdul, for starters – and Sauron, in the end – he did!
- Writer in Old Testament coming up with dodgy translation of line about king
- Author’s family accepting welfare finally after reversal of fortune
- Like novel that’s in fashion, or its creator?
- Did he make up Tolman, Kíli and Ents? Not half!
- Sound eager to hear story-teller
- Fortune rejected by family around English novelist
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Writer" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case writer = tolkien.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.