Looking for opinions

[Schneiderr]

I've been on this project for about a week now, and my dream recall is getting better. My question is... I can't quite recover smells (although I have year-round allergies IRL so I usually can't smell anything unless it's pungent or very very close or all-encompassing) or most feelings and specific details in my dreams. Do dreams automatically become more vivid and easier to remember in their entirety for you guys when you become lucid? Do you think I should wait until I can remember a night's worth of dreams in their detailed entirety before trying lucid dreaming? If I should start trying to LD, what's the best method to start both WILD's and DILD's with besides dream signs?

[The Tao]

I can't say about smells, however, before attempting WILD, I would try to recall at least 2 dreams per night if you can. Using a Dream Journal if you don't already will greatly help. Anyway, you don't need to remember an entire nights to LD. My first couple LDs occured when I could only remember 1 dream per night, and my first one was with DILD. However, details do seem to get much more vivid and clear during Lucids because they get stored into your Conscious Memory rather than Unconscious, and so are much easier to access in their entirity.

[jenovanomusuko]

If you can recall a dream, go for it! The thing about signs is that although common ones work best, you can also notice you're dreaming when something totally extravagent happens. When everything in your house stops working and there are tons of people without names or faces, simply presences or something, and you're having a barbequeue, you're probably dreaming. Common signs just help you sniff around a little faster.

[DuB]

It's not like you're hurting anything by trying to have a lucid. Go ahead and try whichever way you like - start tonight. Sure, recall helps, but you don't need excellent recall to have a lucid. Get on it! However, details do seem to get much more vivid and clear during Lucids because they get stored into your Conscious Memory rather than Unconscious, and so are much easier to access in their entirity. I think this is a common misconception among newbie oneironaughts. I'm not calling you a newbie or discounting your personal experiences with LDs, but I must say for the benefit of the OP that this is not really consistent with my experiences, and I have talked to lots of others who feel the same way. While lucid dreams tend to be a bit easier to remember simply due to their novelty, they are still dreams. They still feel like dreams when you remember them (at least to most people). Many newbies expect their lucid experiences to be as easy to remember as what they had for dinner last night - this is simply not the case. And furthermore, I believe this common misconception is one of the biggest reasons why people are constantly making threads asking whether or not what they experienced was a lucid dream. Often they really did experience a lucid dream, but what throws them off is how it feels just like a regular dream in retrospect. Many newbies have built up the idea of lucidity so much that they are then hesitant to accept that what they experienced was a lucid dream. And don't get me wrong, lucids are completely amazing and realistic while you are in them, but after you wake up, they feel pretty much like normal dreams in retrospect. Anyway, sorry to go off on a tangent.

[AmazeO XD]

It takes a while to remember a full night (about 8) dreams in their entirety. I'd say trying to do LD would be alright, just try and work on your dream recall at the same time. Wild can be quite frustrating, especially if you don't WBTB.