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It's very important to have chords in your song that help move it along, and add to the mood/tone of the piece without simply serving as music underneath. But, don't forget how important melody is. I know this sounds like a really dumb thing to say, but I've heard a lot of songs where the melody doesn't really move, it just sits nicely on top of the chords, and that's not interesting at all. That's not a melody, as far as I'm concerned.
I'll tell you a little bit about how I write, because I write more of this kind of music than classical music. Everything with me starts with lyrics, usually. Every now and then a melody will pop into my head first. I try to write both pretty simultaneously, but invariably, the lyrics get ahead of me.
Then I come up with a melody and sing it over and over and over. I go to the piano to write it down, melody only. I don't know if this term is used in classical music, so pardon me if it sounds like I'm talking down to you; I don't mean to. What you're creating is a "lead sheet." Once I have the melody on paper, I go back to fill in the chords. I find my chords will lead in more interesting directions if they're fully supporting a melody. There are times, of course, when a chord will want to go somewhere really interesting that doesn't support the melody, so often, I'll then change the melody. I write the chords in above the melody, and then without worrying about an arrangement, I basically have a song. There's a melody, there's a harmony, there are lyrics.
Often when I'm writing a song I'll have a bit of a groove in my head, and then I'll pencil that in under the melody, but I don't worry about it too much til after I have my lead sheet. Then I find a groove I like, and start playing with the chords within the groove. Where I want the chords to land in the groove, and I want them to transition within the groove. I used to write thinking so much about melody that EVERYTHING else came secondary. I finally learned (thank goodness) how important a bass line is to a song. With your lead sheet, if you just add a bass line to that, the majority of people won't know that it's not a "complete" song.
But the arrangement gets written into the groove of the song. The bass line often leads the groove, and many of your chords go in the treble. I suggest taking a look at a piece of pop or cabaret music to see what I mean. Jason Robert Brown is a perfect example of groove and fantastic bass lines. And a lot of his music is printed.
I hope this helps!
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~David
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