Through Their Words

Don't judge a book by its cover, we've all heard, but what about judging an author by the words they write?
These last two weeks have been filled with the first 30 pages of my 12 classmate's manuscripts. I just realized this morning that although I haven't met any of these aspiring authors, I already have a mental picture of what they're going to look like, their intellectual level, and if I'm going to really mesh with them.

So, that brings the question-If I've spent 4 hours pouring over and critiqueing the start of someone's work am I really getting to know them or is it all in my head?
I know with reknowned author Cassandra Clare I had my image of who she would be-thinking that she would be much like her red-headed, demon destroying heroine (who just happens to have a similar name)Clary Fray. I had read three of her books-I just can't get enough of them (and have now read all that are available)-even if Stan won't stop making fun of me for reading a book with this cover.

When I watched this B&N interview and realized she had not based Clary on herself.
I laughed for a long time at my silliness in thinking she must be just like Clary.

So, back to my classmates, I keep wondering, am I doing the same thing again?
And what might they be thinking after reading my manuscript? What have they decided about me before even seeing me for the first time? It will be interesting to see how knowing each other first for our work will affect our classroom structure and the way we will interact with each other.

WIFYR-five days and counting-I'll have an answer to this question soon:)