Novelist had ham story rewritten (6,5)
I believe the answer is:
thomas hardy
'novelist' is the definition.
(I know this)
'had ham story rewritten' is the wordplay.
'rewritten' is an anagram indicator.
'had'+'ham'+'story'='hadhamstory'
'hadhamstory' anagrammed gives 'THOMAS HARDY'.
(Other definitions for thomas hardy that I've seen before include ""The Mayor of Casterbridge" author" , "Poet" , "Author of Under the Greenwood Tree" , "Writer who died in 1928" .)