I easily remember my nightmares but hardly ever dreams. The thing with dreams is that I'll totally forget something in everyday life and dream about it a few weeks later which I find astonishing. It's weird how dreams can unlock your memory.
The thing with nightmares is that I can control them, but I have to be quick at it. When I'm in a nightmare, I know that I'm in a nightmare. I know that I'm asleep, but I havn't really grasped the fact that I'm asleep. For example, a lot of my nightmares happen indoors in dark and deranged places, like the subway, or a worn down building you would see in Silent Hill. I'm scared to shit but at the same time I know that it's not real and kind of like a game so I feel like I'm on such an adventure where I know I have to survive. But regardless whenever I wake up, I still have to go "Oh it was just a dream" no matter how much I knew when I was asleep.
Real nightmares are the ones where they're REALLY long. Like all night long. They're the kind where they're boring as hell but makes you worry at the same time. Last night I had a dream I was in school and that I missed an exam. You can imagine that feeling, I kept waking up thinking I missed an exam and was going to fail school all morning. It makes you groggy.
It's weird, but it's kind of cool at the same time.