Well, the night after my first post here I had my most lucid dream yet! Still nowhere near a high lucid but I was able to control it and stop myself losing it for a while.
The weird thing is, the DCs in it were really unhelpful - they kept grabbing me and wouldn't let me spin until I had bowed down to their king?! No idea where that came from. In the end, I did, to shut them up... I wasn't quite lucid enough to realise I could control them, although I did realise they weren't real ("Piss off, I'm dreaming! You aren't here!").
I guess I just have to remember they're my creations next time, it was weird enough that I thought I'd share it with you...any similar experiences/tips for dealing with unruly DCs?