Having a difficult time improving dream recall

New guy here, hi!
I've tried LDing for about 2 months now, and one of the biggest hurdles I've been facing is my recall reaching a plateau.
My 'loadout' (and I haven't been slacking off): 8-10 hours of sleep every night, detailed DJing every day, 15 minute meditation before going to bed, reality checks. I don't drink or smoke weed very often (about once a month), and I'm not on any type of medication.
You'd think that those are ideal conditions, but after reaching a little high the first two weeks, my recall has now been in a rut for some time - often I barely remember one dream a night. I've already tried WBTB, and it seems to impede my recall instead of improving it.
Another thing that makes recall and journaling really hard is how abstract and elusive my dreams tend to be.
In addition to nonsensical plots, many of my dreams have a lot of 'features' that make them hard to grasp:
Time shifts. Either two different timelines intersect and act out at the same time, the dream segments are not in chronological order, or (and that happens a lot) my dream character warps back to an earlier point by 'loading a savegame'. Yes, I have played a lot of video games in my youth.
Glitches. Again, video games. The dream starts malfunctioning and my dream character does the savegame thing or even installs a patch or mod.
Identity shifts. My dream character changes fluidly through several identities, taking on those of other DCs or mixing personalities. So do other DCs, to a smaller extent.
Causal relations between things that are definitely not related. My brain tends to mix up concepts that don't have anything to do with each other. In one dream I heard a barber shop quartet sing a song (about how they'll put me behind bars for cannibalism) that was a jar of plum jam at the same time and all I could think of was that polyphonic plum jam is too fancy for me. These double meanings can be entertaining, but the more dimensions my brain adds, the harder they become to understand.
Sometimes, the dream has all of these, but manages to stay quite tame overall, but in some cases, I try recording it and fail because it's all over the place and my memory of it quickly collapses. Naturally, that's pretty frustrating.
I'd appreciate some stories, experiences, and advice. Thanks in advance!

Your dreams sound really interesting! Sometimes I have trouble remembering my dreams too, and have days or even weeks when I quickly forget my dream after waking up. Even if you only remember a little bit, or the emotions you felt during your dream, it can help to write it down. I'm not a morning person, and am sometimes too lazy or tired to record my dream when I wake up, so I'll just write a phrase for each scene in my dream, and then go into more detail later in the day (if I still remember it). I've read that recording a dream journal in the first person is supposed to help more than the third person because then it's like you're actively experiencing your dream again, and makes it easier to remember. If my dream has a lot going on, it helps me to just focus on one scene at a time, and add on to it if I remember something about that scene later.

Hi jona,
Welcome to DV! First of all, know that dream recall fluctuates naturally over time. 2 months into LD practice is a pretty short period to have established any solid average basis of dream recall, and certainly is too early to worry about a plateau. Well, forget that, don't *ever* worry about a plateau! In fact, just don't worry, period. Worry, frustration, and anxiety can impede results by creating nasty feedback cycles (worry causing more poor results, causing more worry, and round and round).

There is always another night, tonight! Be thankful that you can recall dreams, most people don't and are missing out on one of the great joys in life, and you've had great insight into your admittedly very interesting dreams!

I wrote this about my approach to dream recall (you can check my DJ to see the sort of recall I've developed with this approach):

FryingMan's Dream Recall Tips

I know you so want to experience lucidity and increased recall -- trust me, they are both as awesome as you've read -- just know that *the dreams will come* (and lucidity), just keep focusing diligently on the fundamentals: daytime awareness, and night work (intention setting, and yes that evil thing WBTB too, and recall). Steady work yields results over time. sivason has mentioned that this hobby shouldn't be thought of in years, but in decades -- it is a true life journey. But results come faster than that to keep you interested, so stay positive! Enjoy the journey.

(And you may want to seriously consider your 'WBTB bad for recall' stance: I believe the single best way to get a *lot* of recall going is to notice the wakings during the night and recall dreams on every single one of them. Recall builds with consistent effort, and giving yourself multiple chances to exercise it every night accelerates the process. So maybe call it RBTS: recall, back to sleep, no need to get out of bed at all or to do anything other than recall.).

Good luck! You can do it!

Your dreams are more interesting than mines.

Thank you all so much for the tips!
MorningDove, not being a morning person is also one of my problems, though it has gotten better over the years. But often when I reach for recall after waking up, I simply go to sleep again.
FryingMan, have you ever thought of becoming a motivational speaker? Just reading your post made me feel tingly-fuzzy all day. I tried the affirmations last night and it totally worked. Woke up at 4:30 and recorded a particularly interesting dream (though the more mindbending details still eluded me). I think the problem I had with WBTB was using an alarm instead of noticing the natural waking phases. I'll make an effort to incorporate your other recall tips into my routine piece by piece as well.
markov, I bet your dreams are more interesting than you know. A lot of my friends complain about having less interesting ones than me, but I think it's exactly like recall itself. The fact that you don't remember them doesn't mean that you don't have them. You just need to look consciously. For instance, it was only when I started journaling that I found out how wide my range of emotions in dreams really is. Before, I only ever remembered woozy contentment as the prevailing feeling, but now it's gotten much more interesting. That being said, I also have a lot of tiringly mundane dreams. A favorite of my subconscious is giving complacent dream-me coworkers and family as roommates, which is something defiant waking-me could put up with three days, tops, before throwing them and their stupid stuff out on the curb.

^^ Great to know you got excited from my post, thanks! Yes, alarms are a last resort, much better is developing the ability to notice the wakings naturally. It helps to be well-rested, if I'm under-slept I just can't be bothered to get up in the night, which misses a lot of great dream memories.

All I have to tell you is, don't let your dreams' nuttyness and such overwhelm you. I remember that's how it was for me, but when I decided "What the heck? This weirdness is cool.' and my dreams decided to stay in my memory later than usual...because I wanted to remember.

And while writing it down, it may not make any sense in written words, don't worry about it. Write it ALL down and sort it out later after the dream is down.

http://www.dreamviews.com/dream-sign...am-recall.html

These are my thoughts on the matter. Imo dream recall and dream triggers/reality checks are two different areas of dreams that need to be explored and learned independently, different skills that need to be learned. Focusing on one takes your attention away from the other. Think of it like trying to run before you can walk, or walk before you can crawl, you need to be able to develop certain skills before you can become more proficient at the other, so you need to take time away from one aspect of your training to spend time on the other. I work solely on understanding the nature and physics of dreams as opposed to trying to activate lucidity and I have excellent dream recall and still have the odd lucid dream once or twice a week or so.