newbie: simple file output problem, debugging

Hi all.

My program runs without complaint, but when I check the output file, it
seems to be totally empty.  It used to complain, but then I started
calling it after creating an output file with the following command:

  CRTPF FILE(MYLIB/THEFILE) RCDLEN(16384) FILETYPE(*DATA) MBR(*FILE)

The COBOL contains blocks like these:

file-control.
   select thefile assign to thefile.
data division.
file section.
 fd  thefile.
 01  named-rec          pic x(16384).

[omit working-storage, linking sections, procedure division header]
[inside main procedure:]

open output thefile
perform set-named-rec-value
if return-code = 0
  write named-rec
end-if
close thefile
.

Do I need to create the output file in a different way?  Am I not telling
the COBOL program enough about file?

I also don't know how to debug the running COBOL program to check whether
named-rec is being set correctly.  I'm on V5R2.

Thanks,

-Jared