Crossword Genius

Novelist endlessly attacked online about work (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

trollope

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

'novelist' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'attacked online about work' is the wordplay.
'attacked' becomes 'troll' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'online' becomes 'e' (as in e-mail or e-commerce).
'about' says to put letters next to each other.
'work' becomes 'op' (short for opus).
'e' put after 'op' is 'ope'.
'troll'+'ope'='TROLLOPE'

'endlessly' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may be part of another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for trollope that I've seen before include "Anthony --, English novelist" , "Anthony -, English author (Phineas Finn)" , "Author of 'The Warden'" , "Roll poet over to find a Victorian novelist" , "Barsetshire novels writer" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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