WORDS AND IMAGES : A Novel Challenge : Tight deadlines confronted writer hired to turn out book based on script for the movie ‘Far and Away.’

While the actors were on location in Ireland and Montana, a novelist in Ventura worked under tight deadlines because Universal Studios wanted the movie “Far and Away” and the book based on the film to be released simultaneously. Author Sonja Massie won the assignment to novelize the movie, which stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, after submitting a 50-page treatment based on the original screenplay by Bob Dolman. Actually she was given five different versions of the script to study along with drawings of the sets and costumes. The romantic adventure is set in the late 1800s in Ireland and America.

Massie had only three months to deliver a completed manuscript, which included rewriting scenes and dialogue as the shooting script was being revised. “I was able to do this job,” said Massie, “because I am a fast writer, and have lived in and written novels set in Ireland. So there I was chained to the computer and the joke around the house was my husband would bring me food that could be slipped under the door--pizza, pancakes and chocolate chip cookies.”

Massie and her British husband, writer Rob Ward, settled in Ventura a few years ago. Massie is also a manuscript doctor and she teaches an ongoing writing workshop and edits and evaluates manuscripts. She can be reached at 658-8095.

Julianne Fowler, a human resources specialist for a Fortune 500 company, has authored “How to Get the Job You Want in Tough Times,” published by Lowell House of Los Angeles. The Simi Valley resident teaches graduate courses in business and management at UCLA and USC and based her book on material developed for classes she conducts at UCLA Extension.

“The United States creates more jobs each year than any other country and there are, in spite of these lean and mean times, opportunities for job seekers who are prepared,” she said.

Fowler will expand on the need to develop methodical job search strategies and the importance of networking when she appears from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Waldenbooks, Oaks Mall, Thousand Oaks.

Discussion and refreshments will follow the screening of Roman Polanski’s 1979 film “Tess,” at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Thousand Oaks Library, 1401 E. Janss Road. Friends of the Library sponsor the Classic Cinema evenings and welcome a small donation at the door to cover expenses. Call 495-1392.

Every summer the National Park Service and the Silent Society of Hollywood Heritage present Silents Under the Stars at Paramount Ranch in Agoura. “Don Q, Son of Zorro” will be screened at 8:30 p.m. Sunday in the pavilion, an open-sided building used by Paramount Studios to house large props in the 1920s and 1930s. Visitors are encouraged to come early to picnic and explore the historical setting. Tickets are $6. Contact the Visitor Information Center (818) 597-9192 for details.