'pro-novelist' originates from modern English as a compound of 'pro-' (an informal abbreviation of 'professional') and 'novelist' (a person who writes novels). 'Pro' in this sense comes from the English slang shortening of 'professional' (ultimately from Latin 'professio'), while 'novelist' is built from 'novel' + '-ist'.

'novelist' developed from the noun 'novel' (from Old French 'novel' / 'nouvelle', from Latin 'novellus' and 'novus' meaning 'new') with the agent suffix '-ist' added in English; 'pro-' as a slang abbreviation for 'professional' emerged in 20th-century English, and the combined form 'pro-novelist' is a modern English coinage combining those elements.

The root 'novel' originally emphasized 'newness' (a new story); over time it came to denote a long fictional narrative and 'novelist' the person who writes such narratives. Adding 'pro-' shifted the focus to the writer's professional status rather than the novelty of the work.