Pardon the intrusion, but I think that is not what he meant when he offered the said advice. This is not the "rip off a story then present it as yours" kind but rather "rip off a story as a jumpstart to writing." Besides, this is just "step four", not the final step. There's still step five: Editing. He even mentioned that "nobody should settle for imitations or badly stitched together stories... Once you are stuck or over with paying tribute to another story, go back to the beginning and read the whole thing. Change anything that feels off."