The writer's twice following old dear (9)
I believe the answer is:
expensive
'dear' is the definition.
('expensive' can be similar in meaning to 'dear')
'the writer's twice following old' is the wordplay.
'the writer's twice' becomes 'pensive' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'following' says to put letters next to each other.
'old' becomes 'ex'.
'pensive' put after 'ex' is 'EXPENSIVE'.
(Other definitions for expensive that I've seen before include "Very costly or dear" , "Highly-priced" , "Charging a lot" , "High in price" , "not going for a song" .)