Crossword Genius

Forever a novel character (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

amber

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'forever' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how they can define each other.

'a novel character' is the wordplay.
'novel' becomes 'mbe' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'character' becomes 'r'.
'a'+'mbe'+'r'='AMBER'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for amber that I've seen before include ""Stop" traffic light" , "The traffic-light between red and green" , "Fossil resin - warning light" , "Honey-yellow colour" , "Orange traffic light" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app