Katy in the comments asks: Attractive Villains? Like Who????
Well, to stick to SF, like: the White Witch of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Mrs. Coulter of The Golden Compass, O'Brien of 1984, the Owl Service of The Owl Service, Sauron of The Lord of the Rings (attractive in a literal sense), the Fairie Queen in her several incarnations (Thomas the Rhymer, War for the Oaks, etc), and vampires generally.
As a writer, I prefer personal evil -- the kind that appeals, seduces, tricks, compels, bribes, cajoles, and threatens -- to the force-of-nature evil, which works through strength. And as a student of history, I know that you can dominate a lot of people through fear or greed or apathy -- but you can't rule a group where everyone is opposed to you. You have to have a base of support.
So, I think a villain should have followers, some of whom aren't themselves evil. Or, in a smaller scale story (which I also prefer), the villain should have the possibility of turning the hero. Both of these are a problem if the villain isn't attractive. I don't know that I've ever pulled off this hard trick of making an attractive villain -- readers of The Memory of Trees will have to have let me know. But it is an ideal I'm working towards in Sorrow's Knot.
There, now you don't have to read the story.
(Parenthetically, this (part of) what's wrong with Harry Potter: Voldemort is a lousy villain. And despite Harry's brush with being sorted into Slytherin, hands up anyone who thinks he's got a dark-side bone in his body. This set up leaves Harry with no choice to make -- and choice is the heart of drama. Adventure on the other hand -- they are rollicking adventures.)
Here endth the lesson. Sorry to go on.....
I like the title. Otter's Knot is a good working title. Let's me know immediately that the heroine will have a conflict. Keep up the great work.
PS I'll be flying into Toronto sometime that week of Dec 26th. Any day or arrival time better for you (or James) to come greet me at the airport?
I've read the first two chapters of Sorrow's Knot -- that's an interesting culture you're sketching! In fact, the writing style reminds me of sketching: deft, oblique, suggesting more than describing. There are some similarities to Patricia McKillip in how the prose moves along.
I'm interested to know just what an unbinder is and what are the secrets of the woods: you're pulling me in already! The chapters strike me as very brief: are you working towards a young adult market?
I'm not sure I'd be good as a beta: my feedback tends to be either minutely mechanical/grammatical or hopelessly general. But I will come back to see what more you've posted.
Count me in please.