The History of Fictacular

Fictacular--It’s pretty common around our house. It’s the name of our WiFi network and the name I use for any “screen name” online or playing video games. And, of course, it’s a combination of Fickel and spectacular.

I wish I could say that I was creative enough to come up with it. But that would be a lie. So where did Fictacular come from? In short--my college roommates. One set of roommates were really into video games. At the time, Halo 2 was their main passion. They set up the furniture in their room (we had an on-campus apartment) just so they could play video games comfortably.

They often invited me to play, even though I just as much enjoyed watching them play (it was a spectacle, let me tell you). When you began, you needed to pick a name for yourself. I grew up playing video games, but we were a Nintendo family. I spent half my childhood as Mario and the other half as Diddy Kong. I never really got into online games or any other systems.

At the same time, I was going through some very angsty teenage years. I felt my life was very hard and that I was so misunderstood. It didn’t help that I went to a small, private Christian college where just about every student confirmed that I had been severely mistreated in life. Ha!

When I had to come up with a name, I instantly switched on the dramatic part of my brain and came up with EmoShun. Granted, it was creative. It sounded like emotion, but it also was me shunning all emotions. I was emotionless. See, dramatic and oh so angsty.

They let me play with my semi-gothic name for a few weeks. Then, they suggested a new name, and I loved it! It has been my go-to ever since.