Writing material: help in recording a period (4,5)
I believe the answer is:
laid paper
'writing material' is the definition.
'laid paper' can be an answer for 'material' (laid paper is a kind of material). I'm not sure about the 'writing' bit.
'help in recording a period' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'help' could be 'aid' (synonyms) and 'aid' is found within the answer.
'recording' could be 'lp' (LP is an example) and 'lp' is found within the remaining letters.
'a' could be 'per' (eg 'one a day' means 'one per day') and 'per' is found in the answer.
A single letter 'a' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for laid paper that I've seen is " ribbed leaves".)