inception flashback

• inception-flashback

Possibly from the device of a "dream within a dream" in the motion picture Inception (2010).

inception flashback (plural inception flashbacks)

1. (possibly nonstandard) In a narrative, especially a motion picture or television storyline, a flashback that takes place within a flashback.
   • 2012 June 28, "Flashback Within a Flashback," tvtropes.org (retrieved 4 Nov 2018):

     Also known as "Inception Flashback", a flashback within a flashback occurs when a character recounts an event in which he/she also flashbacks into an even earlier event within the flashback.

   • 2014 January 18, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," alchetron.com (retrieved 4 Nov 2018):

     The story flashes back 25 years. […] Doniphon takes him aside and, in an inception flashback, confides that he, Doniphon, actually killed Valance from an alley across the street, firing at the same time as Stoddard.

   • 2017 December 25, Melody Bertrile, "When making a story, what are some dos and don’ts when it comes to writing flashbacks?," quora.com (retrieved 4 Nov 2018):

     Don’t try to do an Inception flashback. One flashback inside another. I have seen so many people try to do it, and it never works.