Different people work differently, so any comments on this topic won't apply to everyone.
I believe writing to a formula or "planning" a song will always produce a boring song. (I could be wrong of course!)
Try stuff, and be honest with yourself about if it's really working. Don't feel any need to "make" a particular idea work in a particular song. Even if it seems like "logically" it "ought to" be working - if it ain't, junk it and try something else. There's often an element of "throw enough shit against a wall and eventually something will stick" when I'm working on stuff, and often ideas I don't use become that start of a new song, so it's all good.
Don't get all grimly determined, if you want to write something people will enjoy listening to you stand a better chance if you enjoy writing it.
Just listening to tons and tons of different band's CDs you should absorb what turns you on about the music you like, in a general sense of the "feel" and the way a song "moves".
And when you hear recordings that disappoint, you can usually say what is turning you off.
So if you listen to the music you write as if it were something you heard from someone else you should be able to critique in the same way. And in the end you should wind up writing music which is exactly what you would want to hear from a CD.
Don't try to force stuff which ain't coming - put it by for later. It'll tick around in the back of your brain while you don't even know you're thinking about it, and one day you'll listen to it and suddenly know exactly what it needs.
And don't try to be anyone else - 'cos someone already is.
I've never read anything in a "how to" songwriting guide I didn't already know at a gut level. Just write with your gut instincts.
