Novelist initially attending party, being picked up after 02:00 (6)
I believe the answer is:
atwood
'being picked up after 0200' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'novelist initially attending' is the wordplay.
'novelist' becomes 'wood' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'initially' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'attending' becomes 'at' (e.g. at school means attending school).
'wood' after 'at' is 'ATWOOD'.
'party' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for atwood that I've seen before include "Prize-winning author" , "Woman writer" , "Margaret ..., best-selling Canadian author" .)