How does a DEILD work?

And as for a WILD:
I wake up during REM in the middle of night from an alarm clock.
I have tried many peoples' techniques of getting into a dream: imagine yourself spinning, imagine yourself running in a familiar place, imagine yourself being dragged off the bed, but none of them work. I try to use the most tactile and vivid imagination I can, but all it is is me thinking about it.

Is my only choice a full blown WILD with SP?