Lives documented initially by science-fiction writer (6)
I believe the answer is:
dwells
'lives' is the definition.
(to dwell somewhere is to live there)
'documented initially by science-fiction writer' is the wordplay.
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'science-fiction writer' becomes 'wells' (herbert george wells).
The first letter of 'documented' is 'd'.
'd'+'wells'='DWELLS'
(Other definitions for dwells that I've seen before include "Lodges or resides" , "Establishes oneself" , "pauses" , "Lives in, inhabits" .)