Whiskey that's vile inspiring a novelist (5)
I believe the answer is:
waugh
'novelist' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'whiskey that's vile inspiring a' is the wordplay.
'whiskey' becomes 'W' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'that's vile' becomes 'ugh' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'inspiring' is an insertion indicator.
'w'+'ugh'='wugh'
'wugh' placed around 'a' is 'WAUGH'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for waugh that I've seen before include "See 4 Down" , "Evelyn --, English author" , "SECOND PART OF 19 down" , "Evelyn ..... wrote 'Brideshead Revisited'" , "'Vile Bodies' author" .)