As others have pointed out there are many styles of songwriting (I like what snojones said), but here are my own observations, and how I think when writing:

Verses tend to be stripped-down in comparison to choruses. Verse lyrics typically don't repeat (that's the job of the chorus). So... understanding all of the lyrics in the verse is important. It's what tells the story from beginning to end. It helps if you can get the music out of the way during the verses, so the lyrics aren't getting stepped on.

What you might want to do is think in reverse: take whatever cool chords you have for your verse, and instead make them your chorus chords. THEN, to come up with a verse, just simplify those chords. So, you'd be starting with the big cool idea (chorus) and then make a smaller idea out of that (verse). An easy way to do that is remove chords.

Let's say you have a 3-chord strumming idea: G-C-D. Make that your Chorus.

Assuming you want the Verse to also be in the key of G (this is a common thing to do, but you could also change keys), try just staying on G for most of it, while those verse lyrics get all the attention and do their job. Throw in an occasional C chord at the end of a phrase. That way, when you finally hit that D chord it's going to be important and have an impact.

Then, in your big chorus section, use all of those chords. It'll make it much more exciting to have that contrast.

But that's just one common way to do it.

-Carl.