I found this to be very helpful in my last lucid dream I had.

As for the fading, I'm not sure what to do with that, I've had that problem too. To me though, closing my eyes is always a bad idea to do in my lucid dreams, because then when I try to open them again I open my actual eyes. Though I will admit, going in and out of a lucid dream, even though you open your eyes and close them is a very interesting experience :E

ps- fuck yeah, klaymen.