Writer may draw material for his characters from it (7)
I believe the answer is:
inkwell
'writer may draw material for his characters' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how they can define each other.
'from it' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'from' could be 'in' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'in' is found in the answer.
'it' could be 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT') and 'e' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for inkwell that I've seen before include "Container for writing fluid" , "Container sunk unto a desk of old" , "Reservoir for writing fluid" , "Old desktop pot" , "Pot for quill" .)