Let me start by saying that I am not all head-over-heels for Inception the way everyone else seems to be. I thought it was an intriguing idea, but not as mind-bendingly original as it has been hyped. Plus, I felt the director (and his screenplay doctors) got a little sloppy with it at the end.
Also, I don’t find a lot of writing advice that doesn’t make me grimace at how narrow and peevish it is: “Avoid all adverbs!” — “Only use the word ‘said’ as a dialogue tag!” — “Always start in media res!”
But, Lydia Sharp at The Sharp Angle has managed to overcome my ambivalence toward Inception and my advice-o-phobia with her blog post in which she uses the film remarkably well to illustrate how to mix high concept with emotional resonance to create a compelling story. I recommend it to all writers!
