You can also have each section be 16 measures with no repeats. If you are writing a swing tune, there may be a verse, chorus, bridge, reprise of the chorus. There is no one right way to compose music. You can write free-form, improvisational music and find an audience for it. You can write more structured music and again find an audience for it.
All music has structure, and as human beings our ears gravitate to familiar, secure sounds.
Study and understand the structure of the style of music you wish to compose. Then you can make deliberate choices about what to create. If you choose to write free-form jazz your audience will be different than an audience for minuets. Your music is an expression of who you are, how you feel on a particular day. It's very personal, very important, and very fragile.