Goads the French in dense novel (7)
I believe the answer is:
needles
'goads' is the definition.
('needle' can be a synonym of 'goad')
'the french in dense novel' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'le'.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'novel' indicates an anagram.
'dense' is an anagram of 'needs'.
'le' placed within 'needs' is 'NEEDLES'.
(Other definitions for needles that I've seen before include "passes through" , "required by dressmakers?" , "IoW rocks" , "Stacks of chalk" , "Winds up" .)