Gradually, story spread (9)
I believe the answer is:
piecemeal
'gradually' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'story spread' is the wordplay.
'story' becomes 'piece' (eg a piece in a newspaper).
'spread' becomes 'meal' (a spread of food).
'piece'+'meal'='PIECEMEAL'
(Other definitions for piecemeal that I've seen before include "Bit by bit; unsystematic" , "step by step" , "a little at a time" , "Unsystematically" , "taken bit by bit" .)