Olympia author used her encounters with rock star Prince as inspiration for YA novel

There’s a lot of Vanessa Torres’s past in her debut novel, “The Turning Pointe” — including her close encounters with Prince.

Like the novel’s heroine, Torres of Olympia grew up in Minneapolis, devoted her childhood to ballet, and thrilled to the news that Prince was rehearsing at the studio where she danced.

“Most of the encounters with Prince in the book really did happen to me,” Torres said. “Word got out that he was rehearsing upstairs for ‘Purple Rain.’ I would sneak up there and watch him. … I would run down the stairs when I knew he was getting on the elevator and push the button so I could go in the elevator with him and just be next to him.

“When Prince died, I just felt like I had to write the book,” she told The Olympian. “I already had it in my head.”

What was in her head was a coming-of-age tale about 16-year-old Rosa Dominguez, a streetwise Mexican-American who does ballet because her family insists on it and longs to dance with Prince.

“This is just a ton of fun, and I dare you not to cry at the ending,” said Andrea Griffith, who owns Browsers Bookshop, where Torres will launch the young adult book on Feb. 22, the day of its release.

The book has gotten a lot of attention: More than one publisher was interested in it, so it went up for auction, going to the prestigious Penguin Random House.

Kirkus Reviews summed it up as “a powerful story of overcoming expectations.” Publishers Weekly gave it a glowing review: “Firmly rooted in era and place, interwoven with Spanish and filled with vivid, frequently gritty, sensory details and suspenseful subplots, the novel powerfully depicts Rosa’s emotional voice, deep love for Gloria (her sister) and struggles toward understanding, acceptance and joy.”

Though Torres and Rosa have a lot in common, and though the setting in 1983 Minneapolis is taken straight from the author’s memories, “Pointe” is not autobiographical.

“Rosa has an alcoholic father and a very distant mother,” Torres said. “That wasn’t like my family. I have a wonderful mom and dad who supported everything I’ve ever done.”

That included dance, which was at the center of Torres’ world until she graduated from high school and decided to reinvent herself.

She’s an emergency medical technician and firefighter, working for East Grays Harbor Fire and Rescue and as a medic on the ski patrol at White Pass. She got her start in the field when a friend who’d signed up for EMT training invited her to come along.

“It was one of the first things I ever did that felt very natural,” Torres said. “I felt immediately like it was part of me. Writing feels that way as well.”

Living in the Northwest was a natural fit for her, too. She was drawn here because she loves the outdoors — a passion she and her husband, Jeff Palensky, share with their daughter, who’s a fifth-grader at Lincoln Elementary in Olympia.

“She’s adventurous, too,” Torres said. “We ski and rock-climb and dive. Evie got her scuba diving certification at 10.”

It was in Olympia that Torres fulfilled a longtime dream of becoming a writer. Not long after moving here in 1999, she signed up for a screenwriting class at The Evergreen State College.

“That class was the spark I needed,” she said. “That was when I knew I wanted to write stories.”

She graduated from Evergreen in 2003, and after a “gross producer” hit on her at a film conference, she decided to focus on novels.

Her first two young-adult fantasies have yet to be published, but the author and her agent plan to shop them around once she’s finished her contract with Penguin Random House.

“I have a two-book deal with an option for a third,” she said. “I am writing a book right now; it’s due at the end of March.”

‘The Turning Pointe’ book launch

• What: Vanessa Torres of Olympia celebrates the publication of her debut young-adult novel with an evening of reading and conversation.
• When: 6 p.m. Feb. 22
• Where: Browsers Bookshop, 107 Capitol Way N., Olympia
• Also: Proof of vaccination is required.
• More information: https://browsersolympia.com/events, 360-357-7462

This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 5:00 AM.