Answered:
Going to bed early might not be the answer. Being sleep deprived & going straight into REM sleep might work better for you, and having someone/an alarm wake you up 89-90 minutes after you fall asleep might help you to remember your dreams better. This is an unfortunate habit I have, but I have some pretty intense dreams on a regular basis

If you do "reality checks" constantly & consistantly throughout your day, you will start dreaming them as well. Like anything repetitive: school, driving a long distance, work, etc. You will dream about what you do often, or if you try some new/unique experience like cliff diving, shooting (for a lot of ppl these are new/rare experiences).

I've had a few lucid dreams, but usually I wake up right away cuz I get too excited the first time, I saw a plug for my iphone which was too high on the wall to be real. I recognized I was dreaming and got so excited I had 2-3 false "wake ups" followed by sleep paralysis!

Since then, I've gotten so frustrated with failing to have happy dreams that I just demanded my subconscious feed me better plots. And it worked! I have more control over my outcomes, and that is a pre requisite for lucid dreaming