First time I tried this I was moderately successful:
Using WBTB, I remember being on a barren ocean floor, under water, kinda panicing because I couldn’t breath easily (I was underwater), but then I realized it’s a dream and that fixed it. THat is about all, I didn’t or couldn’t control anything.
Subsequent attempts have been futile, except for last night. I was walking around the office where I work, and did a reality check, which failed. So I was like awesome, let have fun, but I couldn’t really control anything, it didn’t seem like I was right there. More like all I could do was watch. It felt like if I would have tried anything I would have woken up.
Yes, it sounds like you are beginning LDs. That’s totally normal (if there is a ‘normal’ in LDs), and actually better than many people beginning.
Coincidentally, I think that if you ‘fail’ a RC, you don’t realize you’re dreaming. But that’s just FYI.
I usually find that I have great control in my dreams, able to summon people and imagery(landscapes, surroundings, etc.) at will. But, I have had trouble with flying before. When I first started LDing I would take off like Superman. One time, I was totally lucid in my dream(100% awareness) and did this and landed flat on my face and broke some teeth. I was like “damn I guess I’m not dreaming”. But right after that, I knew I was dreaming because it did not hurt. Then I took off and it worked.
Now I just jump up and fly, but even now sometimes(after 13 years of LD) I jump up and I just kind of float and move very slowly, as if in slow motion, and can’t will myself to fly any faster. I have been working on mental imagery to fix this problem and so far it has worked. I imagine super fast flight while awake and it has helped. It is hard at first to have confidence in your LD. i.e. Can I really jump off this building and fly? Can I really breathe underwater? That comes with practice I guess.
Sometimes, Lds just like a day IRL. Even though you know you’re dreaming, you don’t have any “powers”.
This is a low level of lucidity, these usually don’t last long either, so they’re kind of a waste
May have something to do with REM also, but I’m not sure.
The trick is to know that you have total control, and you can do literally anything. You have to know and be 100% sure that when you will yourself to fly, it will work. I’ve heard theories about the real world being based on the priciple of expectation, and that if you will for something to happen enough, it will happen.
Yeah, I have problems with powers and all that too, but I found it to improve with time (and practice?). One thing that seems to work for me is to yell at things in my LD’s lol, although that still doesn’t work all the time.
A few days ago I had an LD where I yelled at the lights to go on, and they went on but then they turned off again. On the bright side though, I did make the sky turn from night into day (or more like morning). I also have huuuge problems with going through stuff, I dunno why. In that LD I flew through a door and I was like soo happy, but when I tried putting my hand through a wall again, in the same dream, it didn’t work. shrug
Sometimes I think it’s all random, but it shouldn’t be, since it’s all done in your mind… if there are no limits to your imagination, then in theory, there shouldn’t be any limits to what you can do in a dream.
. If you believe it hard enough, everything is possible 
. I wonder if it is a limit somewhere…The lucid sky’s the limit.