Welcome myR 
It is advised to write down every detail of the dream you can remember, especially at the beginning, so to cement the habit when you wake up to remember as much as possible. Dreams are very large and long (they span several hours in the night!), so for most there’s always more to remember that what you wrote down, and if you want to remember your LD’s, you should be keeping as many dreams as possible on watch 
In general, I recommend following the advice in this guide for beginners.
As for the dream craziness, I’ve noticed that the chances to recognize something strange are deeply tied to how aware you are, meaning, how you are simply aware of the circumstances, instead of caught in your trails of thought; simply conscious of what’s happening around you, without further thought processing.
A good way to get in this state during dreams would be practicing it by daytime, as in practicing simple consciousness, or LL as we call it; it also helps a lot to relax and meditate, or just clear your mind, just before going to bed.
Good luk with your Quest 