Titillating at first, star novelist makes waves (8)
I believe the answer is:
tsunamis
'waves' is the definition.
(tsunami is a kind of wave)
'titillating at first star novelist' is the wordplay.
'at first' indicates taking the first letters.
'star' becomes 'sun' (Sun is an example).
'novelist' becomes 'amis' (Kingsley or Martin Amis).
The first letter of 'titillating' is 't'.
't'+'sun'+'amis'='TSUNAMIS'
'makes' is the link.
(Other definitions for tsunamis that I've seen before include "Huge destructive waves" , "catastrophes" , "Large ocean waves caused by underwater earthquakes" , "Violent sea waves" , "Destructive sea waves" .)