Creative work line in hard water story (7)
I believe the answer is:
article
'story' is the definition.
(story in a newspaper)
'creative work line in hard water' is the wordplay.
'creative work' becomes 'art' (artwork).
'line' becomes 'l' (used when specifying particular lines from a poem).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'hard water' becomes 'ice' (I've seen this in another clue).
'l' put inside 'ice' is 'icle'.
'art'+'icle'='ARTICLE'
(Other definitions for article that I've seen before include "Object - piece of writing" , "Newspaper piece" , "What might be illustrated by a" , "For instance, a" , "See 10" .)