Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Novelist \Nov"el*ist\, n.
   1. An innovator; an asserter of novelty. [Obs.] --Cudworth.

   2. [Cf. F. nouvelliste, It. novellista.] A writer of news.
      [Obs.] --Tatler (178).

   3. [Cf. F. nouvelliste.] A writer of a novel or novels.

Source : WordNet®

novelist
     n : someone who writes novels