DaveO said Usually, for me, the words of the first verse sort of come with a tune attached. Then of course subsequent verses have to follow that tune. The same kind of thing happens with the chorus, but where the main focus in writing that first verse was on the words, the main focus in creating the chorus tends to be on the tune, to contrast and yet work with the tune of the verse, which already exists at that point.

I wonder if any of you songwriters have a method or formula for writing choruses? If you chart your music by chords, must the chorus contain any of the verse chords? I usually create a chorus almost as an afterthought, as a means of lending variety to the sound of the tune. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.