I'm a newbie and I'm a little discouraged.

Well, I hear here that one of the key points in achieving a lucid dream, is looking around in your dream and confirming that you are dreaming. The problem with that for me is, when I dream, I have ABSOLUTELY no control. It's more like I'm a spectator to a movie than anything else. I can't think or be aware of my surroundings enough to even look at my hand because I have absolutely no control. So, what are some steps to even becoming a little in control of myself in a dream, not in control of the dream mind you, just ....conscious.

i'm not too good at this but i would try and look at what your looking at. if you get what i mean?

if you can spot a 'dream sign' (a reocuring object in your dreams) then you may know when your dreaming.

also, keep a dream journal. when you have a dream, right down what you saw, did, felt etc. the more you do this you will be able to to recognise dream signs.

any else have any tips?

Be aware during the day, and always do reality checks.
And as THE_SPIRIT said, you should keep a dream journal. That will help you remember your dreamsigns. Without that, there is little chance that you will become lucid.

Make sure to check out the tutorials. There are some really good tips in there which will help you achieve lucidity.

yellowlight and THE_SPIRIT hit the nail on the head with the Dream Journal and Reality Checks throughout the day. If you do that and write in your DJ, you'll eventually do a Reality Check in your dreams, thus, you will recognize that you are dreaming and become conscious. You could try WILDing which allows you to enter a dream while still conscious, but, in some cases, you end up going through sleep paralysis, so, you would have to remain conscious during this and usually, you'll be pulled into a dream. Check out the tutorials for more info on induction techniques :P

Well, welcome! Also, to become lucid, in real life, if you notice anything unusual ever, try plugging your nose and try to breathe through it. If you can't, you are not dreaming,
If you can, you are. eventually, this trait will carry on to your dreams.

I agree with all the above! RC's & your DJ are your best helpers here although I've yet to have an RC appear in my dream unconsciously.
But I have to say I'm not sure what triggered my mind on at least two occasions to become lucid, was it the strange objects or happenings in my dreams or the fact that my subconscious mind actually said "Hey somethings wrong here" ? I mean I really wasn't consciously saying that within the dream but there I was questioning the environment i was in silently in my mind as a thought. I believe this is down to the fact that over the last few weeks I've actually said silently to myself as a thought "Hey what's that noise?" "Where's my mobile phone gone?" when misplacing it somewhere in my room or similar situations while awake that this has appeared as me questioning the dream subconsciously, rather than doing the usual RC instead.

I just think the mind works on far more subtle levels than we give it credit for and the RC'ing in some cases might be less effective.

Hi there :) ,

try some techniques such as WILD, or WBTB. WBTB is especially handy for beginners and at least for me at worked on first attempt :) . WILD is not so easy at first - but with practice it gets easier and the advantage is, that once you dreams starts you're lucid right from the beginning.

If you got any more questions let me know - although I am still a Noob myself I might help you somehow :) .

Cheers,
Ready4Fajir