A work of fiction by a Pole about love (5)
I believe the answer is:
novel
'a work of fiction' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'by a pole about love' is the wordplay.
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'a pole' becomes 'n' (abbreviation for North, as in North Pole).
'about' is an anagram indicator.
'love' anagrammed gives 'ovel'.
'n' put next to 'ovel' is 'NOVEL'.
(Other definitions for novel that I've seen before include "Of a kind not seen before" , "New and strange" , "strange possibly" , "She, for example" , "New piece of fiction?" .)