Actually has happened to me, once. Involved a very vivid dream with two characters from Angel, believe it or not.
In said dream, I was sitting in the audience of an eighteenth century theatre, although I don't remember what was playing on the stage. I looked around, to find Drusilla sitting next to me on my right, and Darla on my left. Darla looked straight at me, and gave me the standard evil/gleeful smile that she typically gave Angel in the show.
Immediately after this, I literally sat bolt upright. I was sitting up before my eyes opened.
Removed this disputed, nattery example. Somebody who knows more about Shakespeare will need to confirm or deny the validity:
- Older Than Steam: William Shakespeare, in Richard III, gives the explicit stage direction "Richard starts out of his dreame" after a scene where he dreams his victims come back to predict his doom.
- "Starts out of his dreame" could just mean "wakes up suddenly," rather than "wakes up and sits up really fast". Also, Shakespeare never wrote any stage directions in his plays — they were added in later when the plays were published without his permission.
- In a play, actor movements can't be subtle; because an entire theater must be able to see what the actor is doing. Also, I think Shakespeare did write some stage directions. For example, his most famous direction is "Exit, Pursued by a Bear."
- "Starts out of his dreame" could just mean "wakes up suddenly," rather than "wakes up and sits up really fast". Also, Shakespeare never wrote any stage directions in his plays — they were added in later when the plays were published without his permission.
Does the trope focus on the sitting up part or the moving out of bed as waking part? Because if it's just the moving off the bed while waking then I have to disagree on it be called so rare it basically doesn't happen in real life. I've flung part or all of my body out of bed while waking from nightmares. The most extreme was my whole body, with the covers still around me, I even tried to get away from the bed (I didn't make it far before I was on the floor).
Though it's been proven before that I have slept walked at least a few times, so it might be that it was technically over-lapping with that. If it was then flinging yourself from bed as you wake may just be more likely if you sleep walk.
Edited by demonofsarila
I want to write something in which this trope is averted... but the page doesn't say anything about what actually happens in this sort of situation.
That's me.
How is this only 'occasional'? It happened to me all the time before I began to understand when it was a nightmare. Believe me, I would have 'catapult nightmares' all the time. I know I did not wake up from external stimulus. After I had worked out how to tell if it was a nightmare or not, I would just think 'These things don't even happen in real life!' and wake up calmly.
Edited by guitarist