Writer related anecdote, missing a little from each part (7)
I believe the answer is:
tolstoy
'writer' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tolstoy that I've seen before include "Russian novelist" , "Great Russian author of 'War and Peace'" , "Lost toy belonging to Count Leo, writer" , "Count Leo . . . . . . . wrote 'War and Peace'" , "Author of Anna Karenina, d.1910" .)