Possibly be artful as a novelist (8)
I believe the answer is:
flaubert
'a novelist' is the definition.
(Gustave Flaubert)
'possibly be artful' is the wordplay.
'possibly' is an anagram indicator.
'be'+'artful'='beartful'
'beartful' with letters rearranged gives 'FLAUBERT'.
'as' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for flaubert that I've seen before include "Madame Bovary author, d. 1880" , "French author" , "French writer" .)