Something I have been seeing in my writing lately. I create good characters and bad, always some tension. But I find I am giving my bad guys a bit of virtue. I don't just give them some backstory excuse - see why he's bad? Look at his/her childhood. Yes, things might have gone wrong for them, but I don't make that the center of their character (part of it, but not all of it). I make them take responsibility for their actions. But here's what I am noticing - I find I have them take some action that shows some humanity. Not something I planned, but something I have been doing more lately. Maybe I just want less evil in my books. Maybe I want more complex characters. Can't say I have some deep motivation. Just find it is something I am doing.
Anyone else find they are making their bad guys less totally bad?
Foremost, I think you are mistaken here. You are confusing two things: "Bad" and "Evil". Also, you have a very simplistic notion of the "Good" vs "Evil" dilemma, whereas your practice of this dilemma is not so simple.
I'll start by the "good" vs "bad". You asked us how "bad" we were. Well, "bad" is an adjective of quality, not of morality, while "evil" is the proper adjective you are asking for. There can be "bad" guys who are not "evil" and there can be "bad" guys who are "evil" in a story. When we call someone a "bad" guy, we are saying they failed expectations, and not that they have turned into doing the wrong.
If you are asking us how "bad" we are, you are asking us how bad of an apple we are. Not asking how many crimes we have done.
Now, let us talk about the duality: "Good" vs "Evil". There are many, many, MANY notions of what constitute this duality. In fact, this will probably be an ever going debate in Philosophy, because humans can just never decide what is a proper way of looking at life. Well, humans are ever-changing as well, so you might forgive them for that. But I digress. Back on topic. The way you expected your evil characters to behave, "not less evil", reminded me of a notion called "moral dualism", where they are eternally opposed to doing good, whereas your good characters eternally opposed to doing evil.
For reasons only you are aware, such a notion has failed to be feasible. And now you have resorted to a notion of the dilemma which you do find more understandable, one which you use to comprehend your day-to-day life. Which is quite understandable, actually. You never had in your heart a complete understanding of why the "moral dualism" was possible, or if you had, it was never your initial proposal when you started making the novel to portray such complex ideas, because to be fair, to describe ideas which were popular hundreds of years ago on a novel without a very specific public would end up being a VERY ARDUOUS task indeed.
As for myself, I never had problems with this dilemma. From the beginning, my novel is intended to explore such dilemmas, therefore, the more my characters debate with themselves about their actions, the more I have to write.
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