Any advice on how to describe one? I imagine it as a sort of pagan temple, I want to express not only the normal deterioration of a building that has been left neglected but also represent the deterioration of the god itself. In this case my deity is a mother earth Gaia type, so I have described how where once there were flowers growing along the temples walls they have since wilted and died to be replaced by parasitic plants. At a later part the temple collapses in on itself, the problem I am having is explaining how. I have mentioned that large twisted tree roots have forced their way into the building causing the wooden beams to split weakening the structure, is this enough reason? The fact that it collapses is a sign of how man has abandoned the deity so it doesn't have to be too realistic as its a divine action so to speak but I am having difficulty describing it.
The parasitic plants would have tendrils permeating the stone blocks, slowly weakening the structure. Maybe focus on those, they could easily pull it down.
If it were alone long enough for trees to have grown that much, think also of wind and water erosion, possible storms that could have passed through, tree branches fallen on parts, animals making their homes there, humans looting in an uncaring and destructive way, etc. Wood would be rotting, stones crumbling, anything cloth probably worn away to nothing, anything of value stolen (like gemstones in artwork or statues), everything stained with watermarks, nests of rubble and vegetation gathered by animals or human vagrants. You could also try searching google for old ruins, sometimes its easier to describe something while looking at a good representation of it!
Fallen walls... They could look like teeth, could they not? I suppose you would want to make that more flowery and creative but I would go with that. When you describe you should definitely add in the KINDS of plants and get into the latin names and the genus and stuff (this sounds super random) but I think it would be pretty cool. I'm afraid I'm not being that helpful. I think you will be able to describe a lot of this through your word choice and structure more than words. If you know what I'm talking about.. although that might just make sense in my head... Tell me if this should be better explained
Thanks for the comments they've been really helpful, I especially like the suggestion about animals making their homes there as hadn't considered that. I had written about effigy's being despoiled and precious relics looted. Evi
Everyone's suggestions have been great so far, but one thing I think you should note is that the description is going to depend very much on the culture the temple came from or was inspired by. "Pagan" or "Gaia type" can look like anything depending on whether it is from pre-Islamic Arabia, Ancient Europe, Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Aztecs, Japan, Hindu India, and so on and so forth or a combination of those. Something to think about, I hope.
My first thought was this: http://http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=overgrown+temple#/docxdl or this: http://http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=overgrown+temple#/dtd2rj Amazing pictures, I am hoping to use them in a book in the future.
The fragmentary remains of purposely destroyed stone effigies, long forgotten idols, litter the temple and its immediate boundary. I think that purposely/violently destroyed idols will show a loss of faith in the deity.
