I've always struggled with making the parts around the drop.

then i've taken a step back and said to myself, "it's ok if i have elements that aren't even in the main part of the song and their sole purpose is for the intro or for effect."

You might come to a conclusion that it's not a bad way to go because it does in fact evolve your sound because you're using different components. Just depending on how you want to connect the parts of the song determines how it evolves. Either way you're evolving. It just depends on how much modulation you have in that evolution.

I will also say, utilize silence between parts, but make it with in the 2,4,8,16,32,64 bar idea. or multiples of two ( think  it's multiples of two -_-).

I've also started songs in different modes and have different chordal aspects from the main part of the song.

A good friend said to me "you've got to write a story." meaning it has an intro, build up, climax, resolution, ending. You can be rigid, but, typically if you have that journey to the end it's not that bad of a composition or a written song.

Don't be afraid to take a step back and look at the entirety and not do any more creating, but rearranging is necessary as much as creating.