Tries sad novel, tragedy (8)
I believe the answer is:
disaster
'tragedy' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'tries sad novel' is the wordplay.
'novel' indicates anagramming the letters (letters in a new or novel order).
'tries'+'sad'='triessad'
'triessad' with letters rearranged gives 'DISASTER'.
(Other definitions for disaster that I've seen before include "not a success!" , "Calamity, sudden great misfortune" , "Catastrophe, tragedy" , "Calamity, tragedy" , "Catastrophe, calamity" .)