The creative-writing seminar is such a fixture of modern cultural life that it is a wonder no Radio 4 commissioning editor ever thought of a broadcast version before. What could Cathy FitzGerald, in the opening tranche (4 May) of her three-part series, offer the literary neophyte that every university English department in Britain and Guardian masterclasses had somehow managed to overlook? Thankfully, Dr Fitzgerald’s aims were modest, and if the “little lessons” she quietly communicated sometimes erred on the side of the obvious, then the lecturer’s enthusiasm was never in doubt.The “invisible college” of the title was made up of, for the most part, bygone exemplars – only Neil Gaiman was still alive to ply his trade – supplying sound advice