I've heard of people (my friend is one of them) who have dreams where they control the dream but aren't quite lucid. I can only imagine how frustrating that would be.

Definitely start your dream journal. After a while those dreams that would only be a sentence or two will end up being more detailed. After all, that's the aim of a dream journal; improving recall.
So yeah write what you can for now and expand on it as much as you can. Heck, you may find that you only think you'll squeeze out a sentence or two but after you get going might not be able to stop.

Another thing I'd suggest is to read the following tutorial How to Lucid Dream - Dreamviews Lucid Dreaming Community & Resource. It's got to be my favourite and shortly after starting his weekly course I had my first lucid dream. From there, you can start to get an idea of what works for you and tailor your weekly schedule to your own needs.

Most importantly, read, read, read — read as much as you can on the subject — and hang out here with other dreamers.

Welcome to Dream Views.